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.
