Jacquard coverlet made by Samuel Hippert. Weft yarns are red, green and blue wool and warp is natural white cotton. Two loom widths sewn together in center.
Center field has circles of foliate motifs. Border includes a double row of 8-petal flowers. At foot end and sides is an inner borders of roosters.
Weaver's blocks in corners at foot: "S+ H+ ELI/ ZABETH/ TOWN/ PA 1858/ SARAH/ ANN/ FLURY". Band with "H PATENT" repeated along runs across coverlet between weaver's blocks.
Sides are self-fringes; foot edge finished with applied fringe. Top/head edge has red cotton tape handsewn over the raw edge.
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Corner blocks have "S.H. ELIZABETHTOWN PA 1838 SARAH ANN FLURY". Hippert worked in Mount Joy ca. 1833-1838 and in Elizabethtown ca. 1835-1841.
This Berlinwork floral arrangement is cross-stitched on canvas using wool threads/strands. (The first patterns were published in Berlin, Germany.) The variety of colors create shading to provide dimension to the bouquet that contains many pink/red flowers. Sarah Ann Franz cross-stitched her name at the bottom center.
The piece is framed with a double mat, white and pink, in a large frame of mahogany veneer.
From printed display sign: "Little is known about Mary Ann Rettew except that her family at one time lived next door to where Wheatland is located. Also, according to an inscription on the back of this sampler, the frame was constructed by using lumber obtain by a tree on the property. Note the very fine weave of this linen ground, requiring Mary Ann to painstakingly count each cross stitch of every letter or motif, overall creating a design of very small scale."
Framer's sticker on back: "Myers' Art Studio. Lancaster, Penna." Also, a paper taped onto the backing paper with handwritten in pencil: "made from wood from Wheatland."
Small white sticker in lower right corner on back: "W & R Est." (Willson & Rettew Estate)
Provenance
Mary Ann Rettew, born in Lancaster, 4 May 1818; died in Lancaster, 14 August 1886.
Frame dimensions: 11 inches high x 10 inches wide.
Condition
Good
Condition Date
2023-10-19
Condition Notes
Framed and covered with glass, but no spacer between fabric and glass. Some of stitching under frame, but this was a difficult piece to frame. Brown/acidification where piece had been folded. Green is still vivid color, but others have faded.
Single-jacquard woven coverlet, 4+1; 2 panels seamed vertically; red, orange, dark blue, medium blue, green; design of roses, stars and paired birds; top edge has fabric binding, bottom edge has cotton fringe, selvedge edges have looped fringe.
Inscription: "Made by / C. Yordy / Conestoga / Township / For / Fanny / Funck / 1836"
Single-jacquard woven coverlet, 4+1; 2 panels seamed vertically; red, rust, blue, green on natural ground; border is an alternating design of birds and foliage; centerfield design is roses and foliage. Top edge has narrow red fabric binding, bottom edge has cotton self-fringe, selvedge edges have wool fringe.
The two cornerblocks have: "Made by / C. Yordy / Lampeter / Square / for / John / Souder / 1839"
Indigo Jacquard coverlet. Natural cotton and indigo wool. Center seam. Inner border of alternating birds and trees. Outer border (3 sides only) a double row of 8-pointed stars. Center field of 20 full floral and star square blocks with 4.5-inch blocks at top. 25 stars between blocks.
Head edge finished with doubled .25-inch brown cotton binding. 3.5-inch self-fringe on sides with tape of fringes applied to foot.
Painted portrait of William Albright (or Albrecht) (1793-1852) by Jacob Eichholtz, c. 1830
William Albright, or Albrecht, was born May 23, 1793 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to German printer, John Albright (1745-1806). He worked intermittently in Philadelphia as an ornamental painter, lithographic artist, limner, "dancing-master," and teacher of drawing from 1815 to 1845. Albright delineated the color plates for the "Floral Magazine and Botanical Repository" (Philadelphia, 1832-1834).
In 1820, Albright returned to Lancaster at his father's bequest, where until 1836, he published the "Staatsbothe" and continued the publication of the "New and Improved North American Almanac" started by Francis Bailey in 1775. On Christmas Day in 1821 he married Mary Weaver with whom he had one daughter, Anna M. Albright (1822-1855).
Albright returned to Philadelphia ca. 1837, and following a year as a dance master, taught drawing at 21 South Fifth Street until his death in 1852.
William Albright, or Albrecht, was born May 23, 1793 in Lancaster, PA. During his lifetime he worked as a printer, ornamental painter, lithographic artist, limner, dancing-master and teacher of drawing.
Between 1820 and 1836, Albright published a German-language newpaper in Lancaster, the 'Staatsbothe,' as well as the 'New and Improved North Americna Almanac.' Albright moved to Phila. in 1837 where he spent his remaining years teaching art.
On Christmas Day in 1821 William Albirhgt married Mary Weaver. The had one daughter, Anna M. Albright (1822-1855). The birth and death dates of Mary Weaver Albright are unknown.
Cotton quilt with 4-patch design, blocks set on point. Four-patch has two white & two print patches. Print has random ovals containing a remarkable portrait of Andrew Jackson within an oval done in brown tones. He is surrounded by eagles, stars, foliage and hanging fruit all done in browns, green, red & white on a light blue ground. Research suggests a circa 1830 date for this print.
Alternate blocks on point are a foliate print ground of dark browns with scattered white flowers, heart-shaped leaves and tendrils. Outer border, 7-7.5" wide, is a large-scale floral chintz of pink, green, white and a bright chrome yellow on a brown ground. Back is a white muslin, brought forward and stitched to create thin binding. Cotton batting.
Quilting done in white thread on an all-over grid with the same axis as the pieced blocks, but poorly aligned and stitching itself is not well executed.
Barbara Brackman writes in her blog: "Jackson portrait fabric may also (?) have been a campaign souvenir. This portrait of him in uniform harks back to the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812." She later notes: "The print was reworked for the 1976 Centennial."
Jackson is wearing a naval uniform with high collar decorated with frogging, large epaulettes with braiding, and prominent buttons down front. Brackman suggests this image is based on one of Ralph E.W. Earles' portraits of him.
Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828 and served two terms.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Oil painting of Mrs. Alexander Hood seated on red chair with draped red curtain behind. Her dark brown hair is parted in the center and she is wearing a white covering with ruffles along sides covering her ears. The two wide sashes/ties hang down to her waist. A dainty lace collar piece, unattached, is around her neck with opening in front. She wears a black dress with gathers from a front vertical seam that ends in a point below her waist. Long sleeve visible on her left arm has two sections of gathers on the upper arm. Her left hand rests on her lap.
Artist: Arthur Armstrong, American portrait painter (b.1798-d.1851).
Some crackling overall. Some paint rubbed off above wooden edges. Some fine vertical streaks on woman's dress, left elbow. A small spot on right side of painting above red chair. Canvas nailed to stretcher bars in tact.
