Gypsy Baron crazy quilt

Dateca. 1887

Maker Mrs. Jones American, dates unknown

Label TextAlmost anything goes in this quilt: flowers, fruit, wheat, children, fish, stars and a moon-sickle face appear. The title Gypsy Baron helps date the quilt, as it commemorates the operetta of that title composed by Johann Strauss in 1885. Such a topsy-turvy pattern was sorted out through storytelling. The donor remembers her grandmother unveiling it on the piano as a challenge for all the grandchildren to decipher.

Object number75.23

Provenance

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.Published References"Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures." London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 45, illus. p. 44

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Jacqueline A. Wood

Dimensions60 x 68 in.

MediumSilk velvet, metallic thread, jacquard woven silk, paint: pieced, embroidered