c. 1890

Quilt

This is one of a group of silk and velvet quilts made by the Brown family in the late nineteenth century. The designs on the quilt match or are similar to the perforated parchment stamping patterns for embroidery sold by the publisher J. F. Ingalls of Lynn, Massachusetts, and others. The available patterns included butterflies, birds, fans, flowers, and figures inspired by the work of British illustrator Kate Greenaway. The embroidered bust-length portrait below the initial B in the lower half of this quilt may represent its maker, possibly Henrietta Brown, a former milliner whose husband owned a dry goods store in Amherst, Massachusetts.