Description:
Coverlet decorated with crewel embroidery in trailing floral patterns, which was made by sewing together two narrow bed curtains and two valences to make a single piece the size of a coverlet. The original bed hangings were said to have been made by Elizabeth Linsley (1744-1830?), the daughter of Joseph Linsley (1707-1786) and Lydia Wilford Linsley (1713-1780) of Branford and later Northford, New Haven, Connecticut, before her marriage to Jonathan Tyler (1740-1819) of Branford on December 28, 1769. The textile descended in the Linsley family, and came with a note from the donor, Effie Florence Tyler: "Made by Elizabeth Linsley, daughter of Joseph and Lydia Wilford Linsley of Northford and sister of Col. Solomon Linsley. She made and embroidered this spread before her marriage to Jonathan Tyler, Dec. 28, 1769. It is now owned by her great-grandaughter, Effie Florence Tyler." At some point after its initial creation and use, the wosted (crewel) embroidery yarns became degraded and damaged. These losses were filled in using silk embroidery floss. While many aspects of the repair are in the spirit of the original 18th-century embroidery, the use of silk to embroider the linen ground, as well as some of the stitches themselves, suggest a late 19th- or early 20th-century effort.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.815 |
