According to Hall, any quilt can have one or more techniques in it: patchwork, appliqué, whole cloth, or trapunto. For clarification, my easiest definition of these terms are: patchwork is more than one piece of fabric sewn together to make a design, appliqué is sewing at least one piece of fabric on top of another, whole cloth is one piece of fabric that the quilting stitches are the design, and trapunto that has cording or batting that make the design stand out. A quilt will have at least one definite technique; that is part of what makes it a quilt. Quilting, however, is usually the “ordinary running stitch” (Berry), or in the medieval context could also be the “backstitch” (Berry), used because the available “stuffing/batting was lumpy raw cotton” (Evans). The term quilting is simply used to denote the stitches that go through all the layers to hold them together.
These three quilts are very interesting to me because they would have an interesting story to tell it only they could talk. The three quilts were made in “1392” (de Develyn), or “1395” (Berenson, Colby) for the wedding of Pietro di Luigi Guicciandi and Laodamia Acculi, two members of Sicily’s aristocracy (Rice). The workmanship “suggests several centuries of quilting evolution” (Rice), which could suggest that workshops in Sicily “made a business of exporting pictured coverlets” (Laning). The three quilts were made for a wedding, probably by a workshop or guild that had a long tradition of quilt making.
Depending on which source is used, various thoughts on how or why the quilts were separated are given. At this point, little is factually known. However, a note in the inventory of the Palazzo Davanzati Museum about one of them says “acquired for 90,000 lire in July 1927 from Count Paolo Guicciardini” (Young). I personally think that it is interesting that at least one was still owned by the family that it was made for almost 600 years earlier.
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| Guicciardini quilt |
The story of Triatam(n) and Isolde is a story of two star-crossed lovers very early in the Middle Ages. According to DeDevelyn,” it is not certain whether these quilts were made as three individual items or one extraordinarily large item, now in parts.” The story of Tristam(n) and Isolde is not complete on one quilt, but “jumps back and forth from one quilt to another.” (Laning) Whether or not the three quilts, or panels, were once one or were made as separate items, for the entire story of Tristam(n) and Isolde to be told, all three pieces are needed.
These quilts are done in trapunto, which is an “unusual style […] raised into bas-relief by the stuffing of cotton […]. To achieve this each segment of the design must be perforated with a stiletto from the wrong side, making a small hole, through which cotton is inserted until the space is full. The threads, having been merely separated, are then pushed carefully together again without breaking the fabric. At times, the background […] is solidly quilted […]. Quilting of this kind is almost always found on antique quilts, for seldom have our modern women time […]” (Hall). This unusual style of quilt is very time consuming and normally found only on antique quilts.
According to Colby; “The
chief patterns on the quilts were inspired by the legendary life of Tristram,
shown in a number of pictorial episodes […]. The scenes on each of the […]
quilts are not in sequence but were chosen seemingly at random, the pictured
narrative following on from one quilt to another and back again. Some episodes are enclosed in a series of rectangular compartments down
the middle sections of the quilts, and others on the surrounding outer borders,
on three sides only, are larger and contain more detail. A descriptive inscription in Sicilian
dialect of the action and characters portrayed in it, accompanies each episode”.
This quilt has rectangular boxes that contain
different scenes from the story, with inscriptions in Sicilian, and all three
panels are needed to tell the entire story. Rice says that “the main people
and animals were outlined with brown thread to contrast with the natural linen
fabric because this gives them more emphasis than the secondary figures of
leaves and stems that were worked in natural color threads”. These quilts measure 10
ft. x 8 ft., 8 ft. x 7 ft., and 8 ft. x 8 ft.” (Laning). The set of three are not
mere fragments of fabric, but contain entire scenes, and a fascinating look at
a skill from 600 years ago.
The three quilts
have been preserved, but through whatever quirks of fate, have long since been
separated. The one named the
Guicciardini quilt is the” best known, most complete,
and most often photographed of the
three” (Laning), which is at the Victoria
and Albert Museum
in London (Hall, Laning). The Ufferti quilt “is in the Bargello
Museum in Florence” (DeDevelyn, Laning). The
third, the Pianetti quilt, is rarely seen publicly due to its being “in a
private collection” (Laning) in Florence,
Italy. I wonder
how they get 3 separate names. A clue to
their separation is possibly in this for someone with the know-how to search
for the answer.
From a purely technical view, the extraordinary
skill and time used to make these quilts shows that the makers were extremely
dedicated to their work, however, one cannot ignore the beauty of the quilts
themselves. The artistry, planning, and
care shows that the makers tried to and succeeded in creating items of beauty
that have survived through the ages to become the most famous example of this
historic technique.
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| Pianetti quilt |
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| Ufferti quilt |
Berenson, Kathryn. Quilts of Provence: the Art and Craft of French
Quiltmaking. New York: Henry
Holt and Co. 1996.
Berry, Robin. Filum Aureum: Quilting. Ms. <http://www.bayrose.org/wkneedle/index.html>.
El Granada. 2004.
Colby, Averil. Quilting. New York:
Scribner 1971.
DeDevelyn, Kathryn.” A Collection of Notes on the Historical
Aspects of Quilting.” Ms. <http://kateryndedevelyn.org/quilting.htm>.
1998.
Evans, Lisa. "Medieval Quilts." Middlebridge 8 Apr. 1997. 13 Dec.
2006
<http://www.midrealm.org/middlebridge/archives/1998/199801/0369.html>.
Hall, Carrie A., and Rose G.
Kretsinger. The Romance of the Patchwork
Quilt in America. New
York: Bonanza Books, 1935.
Laning, Chris. The Tristan Quilts. Ms. <http://www.home.earthlink.net/~chrislaning/TristanPDF>.
1998.
Rice, Martha. Historical Quilting. Ipsley House, 2002.
“Tristan and Isolde” Arthurian Romances 5 March 2007 <http://anglefire.com/me2/legends>
Young, Susan. "Sister Quilts from Sicily:
a Pair of Renaissance Bedcovers." Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, Sept. 1993
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