Linen edging around pale red frame. Adhered to a cream colored fabric within frame are eight (4 inch x 3 inch) watercolor paintings. 5 sets of Asian men (1 enthroned in middle) and 3 sets of women in Asian dress, mostly upper class.
One of three framed by The James Buchanan Society in 1938.
Date Range
1840s
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
DAC
Storage Wall
Island 5
Storage Cabinet
Unit 46
Storage Shelf
Shelf 4
Object Name
Picture
Object Names
Paintings of Asian Men and Women
Material
Fabric, Wood
Height (cm)
46.6725
Height (ft)
1.53125
Height (in)
18.375
Width (cm)
50.8
Width (ft)
1.6666666667
Width (in)
20
Condition
Fair
Condition Date
2000-08-10
Object ID
W.1938.004.003
Notes
Painted Asian people on small oblongs of bamboo pith. They are painted with heated paint with a small brush (perhaps only two or three hairs). The heated paint on the bamboo gives the raised effect that looks like embroidery.
Pieced quilt of silks, cotton batting, glazed cotton back, cut in 2 halves, made by Quaker Deborah Simmons Coates, wife of Lindley Coates (1794-1856). Has 19 horizontal bands of dress silks (many produced by Harmonist Community) in alternating triangles arranged in Birds in the Air or Flying Geese pattern using the template method. Large triangles of varying patterns alternate with large triangles with 3 smaller appliqued triangles of contrasting patterns. Colors are browns, tans, beiges, electric and royal blue, peach and green. Each quilt half has a green silk binding on the three outside edges, and tan silk on the inner vertical cut edge. Quilting patterns are clamshell, diamond, cross in a square and diagonals.
At quilt center is a cream-colored triangle with an abolitionist stamp depicting a kneeling enslaved Black male in chains over the words: "Deliver me from the oppression/ of man." This stamped triangle was cut in two when quilt was divided; image now hidden by modern binding. According to Cuesta Benberry research, this image of a kneeling enslaved person originated with the English ceramic firm of Wedgwood in the late 1700s. See items 08.242 and 42.76.11 in the collectiosn of Metropolitan Museum of Art for seals with a similar motif. The Wedgwood family were ardent abolitionists, decorating various ceramics with this image, resulting in its rapid adoption by American anti-slavery groups. Used in many forms and media over the years, it remains the logo of the still-existing Pennsylvania Abolition Society and appears on organization's official publications.
Lindley and Deborah Coates, of West Grove, Chester Co., married there on 12/16/1819 but lived near Christiana in Sadsbury Twp., Lancaster Co. They attended Sadsbury Friends Meeting House near Christiana. Ardent abolitionists, their home was what is now designated station #5 on the Underground Railway. Lindley became President of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, before William Lloyd Garrison. Deborah Coates became a Hicksite Quaker minister according to historian Beverly Wilson Palmer. Hicksites were the more radical Quakers, named after leader Elias Hicks.
Provenance
Quilt passed to son Simmons (1821-1862) & wife Emeline Jackson. (Deborah Coates lived w/ widow Emeline on her Chester Co. farm (Evergreen Hall in West Grove) for many years following Simmon's 1862 death. See census records). Descent to their daughter Elizabeth Jackson Coates who married Marriott Brosius, U.S. congressman from Lancaster. The quilt was then divided between their two daughters, donor's maternal grandmother Graceanna Brosius Biddle and her sister Gertrude Coho Reinhartson. The two halves were then reunited when given to donor, Marjorie Ayars Laidman. Deborah S. Coates was donor's great great great grandmother.
Overall good condition. Two halves of quilt (with recent inside binding on cut edges) are "mounted" on cotton muslin, side-by-side. Silks show significant deterioration -- cracking, splitting and abrasion -- with some losses. Binding also has deterioration with some losses. (See 1985-86 condition report by conservator Linnea Davis.)
Documented in Quilt Harvest #448-B (records in Archives).
Object ID
G.86.05
Place of Origin
Sadsbury Twp.
Credit
Gift of Marjorie A. Laidman, Heritage Center Collection
Colorized print depicting the violent 1763 attack by the Paxton Gang against the local tribe of Susquehannock peoples, called "Conestogas" by the English. This print was created in 1841, for Events of Indian history by James Witmer.
Cup (A) and saucer (B), glazed soft-paste porcelain, Strawberry pattern. Handleless cup has straight flaring sides & rests on a small foot Paint decoration on white ground has 2 strawberries & a large green leaf on each side with smaller leaves, purple roses and brown squiggles. Interior has double stripe with berries and flowers. Rim painted rust.
Saucer (B)
Provenance
Collected by Harpo and Susan Marx during visits back East from CA. Donated to Heritage Center.
Walnut chest of drawers. Two small drawers mounted side by side just below the top of the chest with three full-width drawers below; each drawer has two glass drawer pulls and a centered, brass escutcheon keyhole. The chest has recessed side panels with matching crotch-grain walnut veneer. The chest sits on four turnip feet for overall support.
Miniature Empire chest of drawers. Cherry case with mahogany veneer on drawer fronts and edges of top and bottom. Large top drawer overhangs three graduated drawers, all with cock beaded molding. Pressed glass pulls. Overhang of top is supported by S-scrolls at sides. Turned bulbous feet. Small nails with oblong heads used throughout.
Inscriptions in pencilled script: Under bottom drawer is "Made in 1845 by Daniel Kurtz, Lancaster, Pa." On back of 2nd bottom drawer is "Mrs. Kurtz Lancaster, Pa." Chest back has: "Made in 1845 by Daniel Kurtz" and chest bottom has "Flora Kurtz got 1889 from Grandmam when I was 13 years".
A business card, now in file, reads "DANIEL KURTZ./NO. 130 CHARLOTTE STREET,/LANCASTER, PA." On reverse side is written: "Made by Daniel Kurtz in the/ midsumer [sic] of 1845 and/ presented to Miss Lizzy Stoner/ as a token of respect/ Lizzie Stoner who in the/ same year 1845 became his/ wife, later the mother of/ E.S. Kurtz."
Daniel Kurtz, son of Conrad, was raised in the Golden Triangle area. In 1847 he renovated the "Overlook" house on Fruitville Pike and lived there until listed in 1860 Census in the SE Ward of the City
Provenance
File states donor (Mary Herr Glenn) acquired this piece from her neighbor Florence Kurtz, later Mrs. Daniel Musselman Groff.
Maker Daniel Kurtz was a carpenter/builder. Son Emanuel S. Kurtz became a job printer, resided on Church St. and Florence (Flora) was his daughter. She, at age 13, was the recipient of the chest from her "grandmam" (Lizzie Kurtz) in 1889. How and when donor acquired this chest from her neighbor Florence is unknown.
Under bottom drawer is "Made in 1845 by Daniel Kurtz, Lancaster, Pa." On back of 2nd bottom drawer is "Mrs. Kurtz Lancaster, Pa." On chest back is: "Made in 1845 by Daniel Kurtz" and chest bottom: "Flora Kurtz got 1889 from Grandmam when I was 13 years".
Inscription Type
Inscription
Object Name
Chest of Drawers
Oither Names
Miniature Chest Of Drawers
Material
Wood, Glass
Height (in)
11.25
Width (in)
8.75
Depth (in)
5
Condition
Good
Condition Date
2015-05-12
Condition Notes
Multiple blemishes overall. Top has 2 losses of veneer at right and 1 at left end. Bottom has veneer at back left edge, as well as a repaired break of this corner with leg. Long crack along grain at back.
