British Military Intarsia Quilt

1860’s – 1890’s Military Intarsia Quilt The known history of this quilt dates to before 1945. The consignor’s parents were both in the British military. His father was a Signal man in the Royal Fusiliers during WW1. He eventually became a commissioned captain and then a machine gunner. His mother worked as counterintelligence and was part of the Allied 5, counterpart to the British OSS. The consignor states that his parents didn’t keep insignificant items as they had to move frequently and that his parents had owned the quilt before he was born. This quilt was always tucked away throughout his childhood and not used. Therefore, any wear to the piece took place well before 1945. They did not talk about the significance of the piece as his parents were quite secretive about their military experience due in part to his mother’s position working counterintelligence. Military intarsia quilts are quite rare with only a few hundred examples known to exist. This example includes thousands of individual pieces, sewn together from the cutoffs of over 10 different types of material. Some of the panels are stitched with a different color thread than the next which may indicate individual panels were created to then be assembled. All the fabric is quite old and appears to all be from the same period. All of it is wool accept the larger blue border which looks to be cotton, the binding which may be muslin and the backing which is indigo block printed and most probably cotton. The wear to the backing is consistent with a piece that had seen consistent but gentle use. Most of the wear marks are present only along seams and edges. While it is intarsia, a slight ridge has formed at the seam on the back of a few of the wool diamonds. These ridges have caused wear to the indigo stamped backing in areas. There is slight moth damage throughout the piece and minor tears to the block printed backing. Overall, the quilt is in exceptional condition considering its age. Similar conditions are found in many of the surviving examples. Military intarsia quilting is a style of quilting practiced in British and European militaries of the 18th and 19th centuries where individual pieces of wool military uniforms would be cut, and loop stitched to each other forming seamless textile mosaics with intricate and eye-catching geometric patterns. An example of this can be seen in the painting of Private Walker by Thomas Wood. Walker is shown creating panels or rows of individually stitched pieces to be added to the larger piece. Previously thought to have been made by soldiers convalescing during the war, the quality and size of the fabric pieces would have been quite difficult for a soldier to source. It is now believed that most were produced by master tailors for display at exhibitions, or as gifts commissioned by elite individuals.