Grapevine Wreath-Memorial to Susannah Riley

1846

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Elizabeth R. Ellis, George Sanders, and others

Grapevine Wreath-Memorial to Susannah Riley

Maker: Elizabeth R. Ellis
Made for: George Sanders
Dedicated to: Susannah Riley

Grapevine Wreath-Memorial to Susannah Riley

1846

Physical Qualities Cotton; silk or cotton embroidery threads; ink, 17-1/2 x 17-3/4 in. (44.4 x 45.1 cm.)

Credit Line Gift of Robert V. Brawley, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Object Number 1981.150

Album quilt squares could be made by one person upon the request of another. This square is proof that a male might ask a female friend to create a square in his name to honor the quilt recipient. This may also be the case for other squares found in album quilts that carry male signatures and those signed for very young members of a family who could not yet sign their own names.

Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1981; Robert Brawley. Winston-Salem, NC.

Dena S. Katzenberg, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Album Quilts," 1980-1982, catalog does not include 1981.150, Circulated to: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Nov. 18, 1980-Jan. 11, 1981; Metropolitan Museum, New York, June 30, 1981-Aug. 30, 1981; BMA Dec. 13, 1981-Feb. 7, 1982.

Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Sweet Dreams: Quilts and Coverlets from the Collection," Oct. 26-Dec. 31, 1994, no catalog.

Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Album Quilts: Appliquéd Artistry," Nov. 5, 2003-May 9, 2004, no catalog.

Anita Jones, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, "Baltimore Album Quilts Revisited: A Matter of Style," 2nd rotation, July 3rd, 2008-Jan. 27th, 2009, no catalog.

Inscribed: "In memory of/Susannah Riley/Made by her daughter,/Elizabeth R. Ellis./She is gone to [a] world far better than this,/Where angels rejoice in regions of bliss;/In the footsteps of Jesus she faithfully trod,/and now she is singing the praises of God./For an esteemed friend/ George Sanders." (inked)