Description of Top
Large medallion quilt (88" x 96" with fringe, 93 ¼" without fringe), floral center with fringe and fret border. Colors include blue, pink, and brown on cream background. Quilt top is cotton or possibly linen. Fabric pattern is printed stripe and floral, possibly from printed panels. Floral medallion is "broderie perse" appliqué. Stitches used to secure appliqué are invisible. Pieced border is fret design with an unusual set. Center floral medallion block is 45 ½" x 46" block inserted on point within a 66 x 68" block. Embellishments include fringe on three sides (linen?).

Quilt Back
Multi-pieced linen (?).

Quilting
Hand-quilted. Heavy in quantity, medium to fine in fineness (possibly multiple quilters?—varies in consistency). Quilting is all-over pattern: diagonal, cross-hatch in middle.

Finishing
Quilt edges are straight and fringed on three sides. Self-bound, backing brought to front.

Miscellaneous
Extensive damage: dye fading, fabric deterioration, stains and holes. Heavy damage on chin area, missing most of fringe on two sides. Research needed on unusual border and dye application on fabric (wood block?, copperplate?).

SC notes: "I would say it was made before 1800. The thin linen lining would suggest the loosely woven and cheap linen imported to this country and so widely used at that time, also the monochrome blue and white print seems to me to have been done by the wood block process, or early copper plate method. It is so typical in design of the early framed medallions that one wonders if it did not have, originally, a hand made linen fringe round three sides (none across the pillow end)."

Descriptive data collected by Elizabeth Hoffman and Shannon Myers, January 2001