Memorial Hall was one of the buildings constructed in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, to commemorate the United States Centennial in 1876. While a similarly modified seamless coverlet carries the inscription “PATENTED AUG 17th 1875,” no attribution to the factory or weaver(s) has yet been made. It is believed that coverlets of this type were woven as souvenir commodities. These coverlets are generally red and white, although a few are red, blue, green, brown, and white.

Technical notes and description: Cotton warp and wool weft double-weave cloth.  Reading from top to bottom, this coverlet shows a pair of eagles, modified from the Great Seal of the United States, flanking an almost cherubic Liberty atop the building cupola. An anthemion-like blossom forms the framing border.

Related examples: Illinois State Museum, Springfield (acc. no. 746564; Wass 1988, fig. 76); PMA (Safford and Bishop 1972, p. 267); Sotheby's, New York, February 2, 1991, lot 1276; Skinner, March 25,1989, sale 1246, lot 171; Christie’s East, New York, December 14,1988, lot 42.

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.