Rose Wreath Quilt

Unknown

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This hand-stitched quilt is composed of twenty-five appliqued blocks, each with an identical Rose Wreath pattern in red and green cotton on a white ground. Each rose and leaf has matching colored fine wool embroidery around the edges, and each rose has been embroidered in its center with yellow yarn to simulate the flower’s stamen and pistils. Three different, but very similar green fabrics have been used on the leaves and the border. Rose Wreaths are typical of the type of bold patterns and fine sewing techniques that made Baltimore a famous center of quilt production in the 1840s and 50s.

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