Wholecloth stenciled coverlet

Our stenciled coverlet is a rare surviving example of this type of bed covering, one of the brightest and most charmingly designed of the approximately thirty stenciled bed coverings known today. Like most of that number, ours is neither backed nor quilted. It is composed of a single layer of white cotton cloth, and since it has obviously seen a fair amount of use, we assume that it was never intended to be the top layer of a quilt.
The art of stenciling was practiced extensively during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Homes were decorated with stenciled walls and floors, and furniture was enhanced with birds, flowers, and cornucopias overflowing with fruit. Theorem painting, which entailed stenciling still lifes on velvet or silk, was a favorite activity for students at academies for young ladies. Stenciling techniques were time consuming and painstaking, but little artistic talent was necessary to produce a satisfying finished product. Although some girls may have made their own stencils, professionally designed and cut stencils were available by the mid-1830s.
To create a coverlet such as this one, the maker had to go through a number of careful steps. If she was planning to cut her own stencils, she first chose the motifs with which to decorate the bed cover and then drew the designs either on heavy paper that had been saturated with linseed oil or on cloth dipped in beeswax. A different stencil had to be cut for each part of the design; the maker of our coverlet probably used twelve different stencils to create the central medallion. The base fabric must have been stretched taut by some method in order to ensure the clear definition of each motif. No one has been able to ascertain what type of dyes were used in this kind of work; traditionally, it has been said that the makers prepared their own dyes from homegrown plants, but the intensity of color and opaque surface of the decoration on our coverlet make it probable that commercially prepared dyes or paints were used for this particular piece.
This coverlet was probably made in New York State, but this type of bed covering was popular throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, and there is even one surprising example with a firm Mississippi provenance. Almost all stenciled quilts and coverlets have been dated to the years between about 1820 and 1840, and our piece fits comfortably into that period.
[Peck 2015; adapted from Amelia Peck, "American Quilts & Coverlets in the Metropolitan Museum of Art," 2007]