Description:
This coverlet is made from three 34.5”-wide panels of white ribbed cotton seamed together and then decorated with matching multi-ply cotton embroidery. The embroidered main design features a meandering floral and vine. Secondary designs include cornucopia, stars, and abstract shapes. Almost no design or motif is repeated. The coverlet is trimmed on three sides with a double layer of matching cotton fringe. In the center of the piece is the embroidered information “Mary Walker/ Greenwich Mass. 1837,” Mary Gibbs (1812-1886) was born in Greenwich, Massachusetts, the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Haskin) Gibbs. On April 13, 1836, Mary H. Gibbs of Greenwich, MA married Thomas P. Walker of Hardwick, MA. Her coverlet, dated 1837, was made within the first year or so of her marriage. Its creation marked her new life as a married woman, and was achieved probably through the combined efforts of Walker and other area women who were her friends, family, and/or neighbors, as ambitious needlework projects like this were often a cooperative endeavor in the 18th and 19th centuries. The town of Greenwich was one of four towns that were flooded in the 1930s to accomodate the Quabbin Reservoir.
Subjects:
Embroidery; Cotton; Textile fabrics Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2019.17.3 |
