Maker's Initials "M.H.S."Pieced Quilt (Nine Patch Variation on Point)
about 1830 Mid-Atlantic Coast
chintzes, calicoes, and white cotton; quilted in concentric squares
103 x 80 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia Smith Melton
Unlike many quilts of the period that combined a variety of printed cotton in both the pieced blocks and setting squares (single-fabric blocks used to create the background for the patchwork pattern blocks), this example employs a single chintz as the setting for the pieced blocksthus accenting the overall nine-patch pattern and achieving visual symmetry. The junglelike chintz is English, from the early 1820s. The green was produced in two steps by overlaying blue on yellow. Along with white cotton, the pieced blocks incorporate a wide variety of decorative apparel and furnishing fabrics of the period 18001825, including highly detailed mill engravings.