Table Cover (part of a Bedroom Furnishings Set)

Tabby-weave cotton face and back; cotton filling. Designed as coordinating all-white textiles for a bedroom setting, the surviving pieces in this suite are all patterned by stuffing within backstitch outlines. Such work is variously known as stuffed-work, trapunto, and Marseilles quilting. The coverlet boasts a central basket from which are foliate branches. Along the sides and across the foot is an undulating, twisted garland, while across the top a bowed swag forms the border. Although not so exuberant, the table covers likewise feature a central basket containing a foliate spray and a modified crescent undulating border. The valance is edged with a row of partial scallopshell motifs above which undulates a floral garland. The matching bed skirt is worked only with the scallop motif.

Related examples: Table covers at Williamsburg (acc. nos. G 1971–133; G 1982–147; G 1985–188).

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.