This unfinished quilt top illustrates the strong influence of English culture on chintz appliqué quilts, particularly in the use of pictorial appliqué and in the multiple story lines illustrated in the various fabrics. In the center of the quilt top, and repeated in the outer border, one fabric portrays a number of English and Indian hunters engaged in a wild boar hunt. A second fabric that portrays young people in a variety of activities illustrates a popular English poem, “The Deserted Village,” a moral tale of innocence corrupted by evil. A banner in a third fabric, located in the bottom row, identifies it as the “The village and church of Waterloo.” This references the legendary rout of Napoleon by Wellington at the battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Pattern: 
Medallion
Maker: 
Maker unknown
1820
1840
Possibly made in
United Kingdom
83.5
84.25
IQM, Byron and Sara Rhodes Dillow Collection
2008.040.0002