Pictorial Quilt
This quilt is one of four known quilts and several quilted pillowcovers made by the Schleifer/Kichlein women in the 1830s. It demonstrates their unique family style of alternating red and white pieced blocks with embroidered blocks. In this case, red and white blocks in the "Reel" or "Orange Peel" pattern alternate with blocks of white embroidered cotton. The central block of the quilt is embroidered with a fashionably dressed couple and a small boy, and an inscription that reads "Euphemia Kichlein 1832." The quilt was completed in 1832 Euphemia Kichlein, likely with the help of her mother Christina Schleifer Kichlein as Euphemia was only 14 years old.
The embroidered motifs seem to have been copied from print sources; the family group on the large central block may have been copied from a similarly composed family group that appears in an English print entitled "View Of Dandelion Garden, Margate, Kent" by Benjamin Thomas Poundy (fl. 1772-1799), or another print or fashion plate of the day. The smaller blocks with the birds perched on a flowering tulip bush are generic images found on Pennsylvania German fraktur (hand-painted paper certificates, given on the occasion of births/baptisms, weddings, and school accomplishments). The image of the young woman holding a bird is very specific and was copied from a printed birth and baptism form that was popular in the area in the first decades of the 1800s.
The embroidered motifs seem to have been copied from print sources; the family group on the large central block may have been copied from a similarly composed family group that appears in an English print entitled "View Of Dandelion Garden, Margate, Kent" by Benjamin Thomas Poundy (fl. 1772-1799), or another print or fashion plate of the day. The smaller blocks with the birds perched on a flowering tulip bush are generic images found on Pennsylvania German fraktur (hand-painted paper certificates, given on the occasion of births/baptisms, weddings, and school accomplishments). The image of the young woman holding a bird is very specific and was copied from a printed birth and baptism form that was popular in the area in the first decades of the 1800s.
Artwork Details
- Title: Pictorial Quilt
- Artist: Euphemia Kichlein (American, Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1818–1885)
- Date: 1832
- Geography: Made in Buck's County, Pennsylvania, United States
- Culture: American
- Medium: Cotton, wool and silk
- Dimensions: 88 × 85 1/2 in. (223.5 × 217.2 cm)
- Credit Line: Friends of the American Wing Fund, 2016
- Object Number: 2016.432
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Adeline Harris Sears
begun 1856
American
ca. 1850–60
J. Wright
ca. 1815
Emeline Travis Ludington
ca. 1850
Amish maker
A. K.
1892
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.