Description:
English red and white cotton or "toile" patched pillow cover fragment with a linen lining made by the Francis Nixon Company (closed in 1789). The red copperplate design depicts a "birds and scrolls" design with perched and flying birds, and Rococo- style scrolls with flowers and foliage. The 39" vertical print repeat is one of the longest known. These bed furnishings (96.029.1-.4) are associated with the Hedges and Huntting families, and Rev. Samuel Buell (1716-1798), all of East Hampton, New York, on the eastern end of Long Island. Rev. Dr. Samuel Buell was born in Coventry, Connecticut, and moved to East Hampton, New York. In 1746, Rev. Buell married Jerusha Meacham (1721-1759), the daughter of the Rev. Joseph Meacham of Coventry, Connecticut, and Esther Williams (1691-1751) who was the daughter of the Rev. John Williams (1664-1729) of Deerfield, author of "The Redeemed Captive." Esther Williams was one of those captured in the Indian raid on Deerfield in 1704, taken to Quebec, and later redeemed. Rev. Buell married his second wife, Mary Mulford (1746-1783) of East Hampton, around 1767, and his third, Mary Miller (1766-1844), in 1788. In 1746, Rev. Buel succeeded the Rev. Nathaniel Huntting (1675-1753), who served as the second minister of The East Hampton Church for 49 years, as the third minister of the chuch, which later became the East Hampton Presbyterian Church. Nathaniel and his wife Mary Huntting (1679-1733) were given a house by the the town which "by unanimous vote: Doe freely give and grant unto him . . . and his heirs . . . forever." This house was operated after his death by the Huntting family as "a common publick house," as it was derisively called, into the 20th century. William Hedges was a member of one of the original 34 Puritan families who settled in East Hampton in 1648 whose descendents remained in the area.Copperplate printing involves the incising of a metal (copper) plate to produce a design that is often, but not always, monochromatic. Typical colors include red, blue, and purple/sepia. The process of copplerplate printing was brought to England in 1756 by Francis Nixon of Ireland, the founder of the company who produced this example. These kinds of fabrics were imported into America in large quantities both before and just after the Revolution, known as "copperplates." They were most often used as an upholstery textile.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+96.029.2 |
