CHINTZ REVERSE APPLIQUÉ QUILT, 1830s
Like many quilters, Anna Maria Hummel Markey Garnhart cut up several floral prints to create her own floral arrangements. Costlier multicolor chintzes are paired with more modest-priced, small-scale calico prints used in the baskets and leafy vines. Markey Garnhart made similar quilts for eleven grandchildren, using many of the same chintzes and calicoes. Compare the striped marigold at the very top with the botanical illustration nearby.
Anna Maria Hummel Markey Garnhart (1773-1860), Frederick, Maryland
Cotton
101” x 100”
Loan courtesy of the Maynard Family, L.91.355
“Tagetes Patula. Spreading Tagetes, or French Marigold”
Sydenham Teak Edwards, London
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, Vol. 5, 1792
English chintz designers often copied flowers from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, including this marigold seen in the appliqué quilt nearby. The United States’ textile industry was not advanced enough to produce these prints; they were imported from England and to a lesser extent, France. Many chintzes can be found on multiple surviving quilts.
