Quilt

Artist/Maker
Palmer, Catherine Couturier Marion
Place Made
Cherry Grove Plantation Berkeley County South Carolina
Date Made
1847
Medium
cotton
Dimensions
HOA: 109 7/8; WOA: 103 1/4
Accession Number
2534.2
Description
MAKER: Catherine Couturier Marion Palmer (1807-1895) was one of eight daughters born to Francis Marion (1777-1833) and Harriet Kirk (1782-1856). Her father, Francis Marion, was born Francis Dwight. In 1799 he changed his name, at the request of his great-uncle, Francis Marion, better known as the Revolutionary War hero “the Swamp Fox”. Catherine was born at Mt. Pleasant Plantation in St. John’s Berkeley, South Carolina where she was married to John Gendron Palmer (1807-1840) in 1830. Catherine and John Palmer lived at neighboring plantation Cherry Grove.

This chintz applique quilt features many selections of chintz fabrics, that were cut and applied to a cotton ground fabric to achieve an ambitious tree of life design. This quilt was made for Harriet Marion Palmer (1830-1896), Catherine’s daughter, when she was seventeen years old. Catherine Palmer is responsible for not only this palampore design quilt, but two other quilts in the MESDA Collection.

DESCRIPTION: The quilt has three pieced borders surrounding a tree of life design appliqued to a white ground fabric. It was quilted in an all-over diamond or cross-hatched pattern. A very thin layer of cotton batting was used. The first (outer) border has mitred corners and is 13 1/4″ deep; all four sides are one complete piece. The second border does not have mitred corners and is 6 1/2″to 6 3/4″ deep; some marking lines are still apparent on this border and it is made of a total of nine pieces. The third border has mitred corners, is 6 3/4″ -7″ wide, and is covered in crepeline (a very thin silk fabric used to stabilize fragile textiles). The center and white border are quilted in a diamond pattern and chintz borders are diagonally quilted only parallel to mitred seam. The inner square is 55 3/4″ high and is two pieces with a verticle seam; quilted up to the applique but not over the applique. The lower 1/2 of the central tree is from one fabric and the upper 1/2 is from another fabric.

RELATED OBJECTS: In the MESDA Collection are three other quilts that descended in the Palmer and Marion families. Made by Catherine Palmer’s mother, Harriet Kirk Marion, is a crib or child’s quilt (acc. 2534.1) mesda.org, and a mosaic quilt (acc. 2534.4) mesda.org. Harriet Kirk Marion also contributed a square to an album quilt (acc.2534.3) which Catherine Palmer is credited with assembling mesda.org. Catherine Palmer is also identified as a co-maker with her mother Harriet on this mosaic quilt (acc. 2534.4).

History
HISTORY: The provenance of this quilt is solidly documented. The chintz applique palampore quilt was made by Catherine Couturier Marion Palmer (1807-1895) and given to her daughter Harriet Marion Palmer Dwight (1830-1896). The quilt is inscribed on the back in ink – “Harriet M. Palmer from her mother”. Harriet Palmer Dwight had no children so it was then passed to her niece, Kate Palmer Logan (1870-1944). The quilt descended from Kate to her daughter Frances Logan Parker and her sisters before it came to the MESDA Collection in 1972.
Artist Biography
MAKER: Catherine Couturier Marion Palmer was the daughter of Francis Dwight Marion (born Francis Dwight, but took the name Marion after his mother’s brother, General Francis Marion, and formally adopted in will of 1795) and his second wife Harriet Kirk. They lived at Mount Pleasant Plantation, St. Johns Parish, Berkeley County, South Carolina. Catherine was born in 1807 and married, in 1830 to John Gendron Palmer, the son of Elizabeth Catherine Porcher and Joseph Palmer. She and her husband lived at Cherry Grove plantation, St. Johns Parish, Berkeley County.
Credit Line
MESDA Purchase Fund