Star of Jerusalem Quilt

The anonymous female creator who made this quilt has handled her riot of color and pattern with great dexterity. Carefully maintaining a gently symmetrical palette, the pattern of the radiating, central 8-pointed star, called the Star of Jerusalem, remains coherent. The juxtaposed patches, reclaimed and reused from both furnishings and garments, are composed of at least fifteen different printed chintzes, spanning thirty-odd years from around 1790 to 1820. As such, this quilt embodies the glorious range of visual sources and styles embraced by late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century European textiles designers. Neo-Renaissance arabesques are juxtaposed with minutely-observed florals and birds’ nests, Ancient Egyptian-style hieroglyphs abut the Chinoiserie peonies and porcelain of the central star.