Album Quilt

Album Quilt

1840s-50s
Artist
Elizabeth Sanford Jennings Hopkins, American, 1824-1904
Born: Connecticut
Work Locations: New York
Locale
New York
Country
United States
Object
quilt
Medium
hand pieced and appliquéd cotton and silk; silk, cotton, and linen embroidery; pen and ink; hand quilted with raised work (trapunto)
Accession Number
2007.38
Credit Line
Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds from Mrs. Irene Littledale Downs, Mrs. August Kern, and Mrs. Alexander Girard by exchange
Elizabeth Sanford Jennings Hopkins (American). Album Quilt. 1840s-50s. hand pieced and appliquéd cotton and silk; silk, cotton, and linen embroidery; pen and ink; hand quilted with raised work (trapunto). Neusteter Textile Collection: Funds from Mrs. Irene Littledale Downs, Mrs. August Kern, and Mrs. Alexander Girard by exchange. 2007.38.
Dimensions
height: 100 in, 254.0000 cm; width: 85 in, 215.9000 cm
Department
Avenir Institute of Textile Arts and Fashion
Collection
Textile Arts and Fashion-American
Born in Connecticut, Elizabeth Sanford Jennings made this quilt after marrying Charles Hopkins in 1841 and moving to Port Jefferson, Long Island. Many of the floral and decorative motifs are common to the album quilts of the period, but some of the images are more personal. Flying the banner "HOPE," the sailing ship catching a blue fish references both her husband's life as a sea captain and the maritime community in which she lived. A well-furnished interior and musical instruments suggest a comfortable home. Although few of the seven Hopkins children survived childhood or the Civil War, this quilt remained in the family until acquired by the museum.
Known Provenance
Inherited by Sarah Freese [Denver, CO, b. 1982] via the artist Elizabeth Sanford Jennings Hopkins [New York, NY, 1824-1904]; purchased June 2007 from Sarah Freese via Lewis Bobrick Antiques [Denver, CO] by the Denver Art Museum