Quilt [broderie Perse]
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- Place made
- England
- Medium
- glazed printed cotton, linen
- Dimensions
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223.0 x 163.0 cm
182.0 x 10.0 cm (diam.) (rolled) - Credit line
- Gift of Diana Tostevin 1994
- Accession number
- 947A60
- Signature and date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Media category
- Textiles
- Collection area
- British decorative arts
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Designed and sewn by Jane Judd in England in the late eighteenth century, this is one of the oldest quilts in the Gallery’s collection. With its repeating hexagon design featuring baskets of floral arrangements within each segment, this textile is an outstanding example of the English quilting style of the period. The baskets and flowers are sewn onto the plain fabric background in a style known as broderie perse, whereby shapes and patterns are cut from printed cotton chintz fabrics and reassembled into a new design, before being sewn onto a plain background.
The broderie perse style – French for Persian embroidery – gave makers the opportunity to express their creativity, while also being economical: printed cotton fabrics were popular, but also more expensive, and by using this method small pieces could be appropriated from cut-offs, reused and sewn on to a cheaper linen backing. Quilts such as these were sometimes made to commemorate a special event or made into bedspreads for visitors or special guests.
The care and craftsmanship with which Jane Judd sewed this quilt confirms her skill as a needlewoman and suggests that she took pride in her work and was aware of the latest fashions. Certainly, her family treasured the work, treating it as an heirloom. The quilt appears to have travelled to Australia with her great-granddaughter, Katherine Holroyd, and continued to be passed down through the generations until it was donated to the Gallery in 1994, nearly 200 years after its creation.
Ingrid Goetz, Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts & Design
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Inspired Design: Love & Death
Art Gallery of South Australia, 18 November 2011 – 19 February 2012
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[Book] AGSA 500.