While closely resembling the more famous Baltimore Album quilts, this example represents a particular style associated with Philadelphia.

Technical notes and description: Tabby-weave cotton face and replaced back; silk thread. This quilt incorporates three distinct design elements: the solid cylinder-printed chintz strip border, an inner frame composed of twelve squares, and a central medallion. The schematic appliques include diagonally placed matching open-wreath motif corner squares, one pair having a dove and harp and the other arrow-pierced hearts. Along the two sides and bottom, the remaining squares offer a cherry wreath, a pair of concentric wreaths of alternating green and red leaves and tulip flower, a snowflake, and a floral basket. The unique squares are the central medallion featuring two rose wreaths, one open and one closed, both surrounding a dove in flight above a harp. Across the top, one finds a square detailed with Independent Order of Odd Fellows symbols, including an all-seeing eye, a linked chain. Death's head, moon and stars, a dove of peace, three arrows, an hour-glass, a serpent, a globe, and hearts and hand. One also finds along the top a fruit bowl filled with melons, cherries, grapes, pineapples, and peaches. The fruits are flanked by two birds and a rose. The motifs are appliqued from plain fabric, printed dress goods, and printed fruits and flowers. The quilt is composed of applique pieces of cylinder-printed chintz highlighted with chain and outline running stitches

Related examples: Bishop 1975, p. 72, for similar Odd Fellows square; Katzenberg 1981, pp. 112–13,118–19.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.