Quilt, Star of Bethlehem

First Baptist Church, Perth Amboy

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

According to his granddaughter-in-law, Reverend George Faitute Hendricksen (1817-1894) received this quilt as a gift from his congregation during a church Harvest Festival. A minister for over fifty years, Hendricksen served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Perth Amboy from 1845 to 1848. It was not uncommon for congregations to create quilts for ministers when they departed for another church; perhaps that is the reason this quilt was made.

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