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Culture:textile: Indian or English; printing: English
Title:coverlet; counterpane
Date Made:ca. 1750
Type:Bedding
Materials:textile: madder (red and black) block-printed, plain weave cotton
Place Made:textile: India or United Kingdom; England; printing: United Kingdom; England
Measurements:overall: 101 x 80 in.; 256.54 x 203.2 cm
Accession Number:  HD 1999.40
Credit Line:Gift in memory of Esther May Dickinson of Heath, Massachusetts
Museum Collection:  Historic Deerfield
1999-40t.jpg

Description:
Counterpane or single-layer coverlet in block-printed cotton with a repeating design of scrolling vine, flowers, and leaves in two shades of red plus black on a white ground made up of two panels of fabric (selvage width about 40"), which descended in the Temple and Dickinson families of Heath, Massachusetts. According to the handwritten and unsigned note that came with the coverlet: "This counterpane [a kind of coverlet] was bought in London about the year 1750. The cotton probably came from India. It was prepared, spun and woven by hand and the figures painted upon it with a brush. A Prize having been offered to the young lady in Concord Mass.. who should raise the most poultry that year, this was the premium rewarded to Miss Elizabeth Temple (later Mrs. Green). Mrs. Green died in Heath in 1812 aged 73. (The value of this when purchased can be estimated by the fact that a pair of gentleman's cotton stockings cost in 1803 in London 3 lbs or $15.00.)" According to Levi Daniel Temple's "Some Temple Pedigrees" (published 1900), Elizabeth Temple (1739-1805), the daughter of Benjamin Temple (1708-1767/9) of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, from 1736-1748 and Heath and Hannah ?, was born in Concord and married Mr. Green. Temple also writes: "Mrs. Lucy E. Dickinson of Heath, Mass., has a counterpane which (it is said) was given to Elizabeth Temple in 1750 or 1751 by Major Willard of Concord as a prize for raising the most chickens of any girl in town. This counterpane was given to Elizabeth McCrellis Coombs and from her passed to her granddaughter, Lucy E. Dickinson. Elizabeth died Aug. 4, 1805." The textile is decorated with a block-printed design that used madder dye, in combination with different mordants, or metallic saly fixatives, to create two shades of red, plus the black. The red was likely achieved through use of an alum mordant, while the black used an iron-based mordant. The printing, as well as the coarsely spun and woven cotton, suggests English or European production. it is possible that the cotton was a cheaper variety made in India, but printed in England. By the early 18th century, dyers in and around Boston and Philadelphia were experimenting with mordant- and resist-dyed designs on cloth as well. Despite the lack of a definitive origin of the design, by the middle of the 18th century, Western attempts at printing to mimic superior Indian-decorated cottons (painted and/or printed chintz and calicoes) yielded examples like this. These imitations were sometimes also confusingly called calicoes. The woven density of the fabric is about 16x16 tpc (threads per centimenter), or about 6.25 x 6.25". Both the warp and weft threads are spun in a Z twist.

Label Text:
This coverlet, or counterpane (both names derive from French terms for singe-layer bed coverings), descended in the Temple and Dickinson families of Massachusetts. According to family tradition, it was awarded to Elizabeth Temple (1739-1805), of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, in 1750 as a prize for raising the most chickens of any girl in a Massachusetts town. Its survival documents early attempts by English and European printers to imitate Indian-decorated cottons. Madder dye, in concert with different mordants, produced the two shades of red and black.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1999.40

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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