PALAMPORE, 18th CENTURY

“Tree of Life” designs originated in China, but it was Indian palampores imported into England—and to a lesser extent Colonial North America—which had enormous influence on American quilt designs well into the 1800s. Quilters cut and re-arranged branches, flowers, and often birds from one or several imported chintzes, creating their own exotic “Tree of Life” designs. Botanical accuracy was abandoned; both palampores and quilts display multiple flowers blooming from the same tree in joyful abundance.

India
Painted cotton
72.5” x 110”
Friends of the Museum Purchase, 2005.30