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.
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.
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.
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.
