1760 Eve Van Cortlandt's Quilted Whitework Counterpane
date: label: Date made
content: 1760
name: label: quilter
content: Van Cortlandt, Eve
notes: label: Description
content: Eve Van Cortlandt's fine white linen quilted counterpane is one of the earliest dated American quilts in existence. The date, "1760" and her initials, "E V C," are embroidered in blue silk cross-stitch on the quilt lining. Quilted with white linen thread, a delicate pattern of flowers, feathery stems, and low open baskets surround a central quatrefoil medallion. The design is set off by a background of quilted parallel lines just one-eighth inch apart.
label: Description
content: Eve was born on May 22, 1736, to Frederick Van Cortlandt and Francena Jay each from families of wealthy and prominent New York landowners. She made her quilt for her dower chest while living in the family home. In 1761, Eve married the Honorable Henry White, a businessman and a member of the King’s Council of the Royal Colony of New York. He became president of the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1772 and remained loyal to the King of England during the Revolution.
label: Description
content: When the British evacuated New York in 1783, Henry moved his family to England. Henry White died in London in 1786, and Eve returned to America as a widow, most likely to be near two of her children who lived in New York. Of their five children, two sons were in the British service and remained in London, as did one daughter. Eve died in 1836 at the age of one hundred, having witnessed a century of historic events. Since 1897, the family home in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx has been a museum.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Quilting
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: Domestic Furnishings
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content: Textiles
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content: Quilts
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Cooper, Grace Rogers. The Copp Family Textiles
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.0184.01
label: catalog number
content: 1979.0184.01
label: accession number
content: 1979.0184
objectType: label: Object Name
content: quilt
label: Object Type
content: quilts
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric, linen, cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: thread, linen (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: filling, cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: filling, cotton (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 98 in x 87 in; 248 cm x 220 cm