Mariner's Compass Quilt

Barbara Ann Miller

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This beautiful quilt, signed in the center in ink “Barbara Ann Miller/her quilt/1847”, exemplifies the German approach to the English tradition of quiltmaking. Pennsylvania German quilts are typically more boldly colored and patterned than those from other areas of the Northeast. The emphasis on ornate patterning is thought to reflect the influence of the German and central European folk-art traditions that the Pennsylvania Germans carried with them to America. The Mariner’s Compass pattern, which demanded incredibly precise stitching, was one of the most popular sewn by Pennsylvania German women in the nineteenth century.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art