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1790 - 1799 Esther Wheat's Wool Quilt

National Museum of American History

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Object Details

quilter
Wheat, Esther
Description
Esther Wheat's quilt is an example of a glazed wool fabric, not only used for bedding but also petticoats in the eighteenth century. The shiny surface of the quilt top was achieved by calendering, a process of applying heat and pressure with metal plates or rollers to a worsted fabric. In Esther's quilt the high sheen of the fabric enhanced the elaborate quilting of the large feathered heart and two pineapples surrounded by a scrolling vine with flowers. According to the donor, Esther Wheat Lee's great-great-granddaughter, the original plain weave yellow wool lining wore thin and was replaced by Esther's daughter, Olive Lee Doolittle. A thin layer of cotton fiber filling was added before the second lining of red twill weave cotton and wool was quilted to the original lining, but not through the quilt top.
Esther Wheat made this quilted indigo-blue wool bed cover for her dower chest in the 1790s. Esther, a twin, was born in 1774 in Conway, Massachusetts. She married Benjamin Lee in 1799 and died at Canastota, New York in 1847. Esther's quilt was passed down through five generations of women before being donated to the Smithsonian in 1973.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Miss Olive E. Hurlburt
1790-1799
ID Number
TE.T16380
catalog number
T16380.000
accession number
308057
1973.308057
Object Name
quilted counterpane
Object Type
counterpanes
quilts
Other Terms
quilted counterpane; Counterpane; Household Textile
Physical Description
fabric, wool, cotton/wool twill (overall material)
indigo (overall color)
quilted (overall production method/technique)
wool, cotton (overall thread)
wool (overall filling)
Measurements
overall: 91 in x 93 in; 231 cm x 237 cm
See more items in
Cultural and Community Life: Textiles
Domestic Furnishings
Quilts
Textiles
National Museum of American History
subject
Quilting
Record ID
nmah_1137644
Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-f0e3-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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