Another Unusual Find
I had never seen this broad-leaf pattern (below) on a quilt prior to my find on eBay December 2010.This is a Four-Block quilt.
I am assuming the tan was once green but I can find no real evidence of it. Even where the loose fabric enables me to get under the tan, there is no appearance of the green left.
The fact that the red has worn so unevenly makes me wonder if the red wasn't from two different dye lots. Seems strange that some leaves held-up so well and others did not.
Below is a photo of a Corithn column with two ranks of stylized acanthus leaves. Is that what this leaf is -- an interpretation of the acanthus plant?
Below is the leaf on the quilt side-by side with a large acanthus leaf.
Here are four different architectural variations of the acanthus in
various periods of history.
You will often see this pattern in Moulded Ceilings as well. Click here to see some beautiful examples.
Below is another variation from a stair railing at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
And still another column.
So far I have found two legends about the plant but there are probably more.
Acanthus. The acanthus plant grows throughout much of the Mediterranean region. Its large leaves appear in many ancient sculptures, especially on top of columns in the Greek style called Corinthian. Legends says that after a young girl's death, her nurse placed her possessions in a basket near her tomb. An acanthus plant grew around the basket and enclosed it. One day the sculptor Callimachus noticed this arrangement and was inspired to design the column ornament.
http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Pa-Pr/Plants-in-Mythology.html
As seen on a green wedgewood teapot.
Acantha (Greek: Ἀκάνθα, English translation: "thorny") was a minor character in Greek mythology. She was a nymph loved by Apollo, the sun god. In one version of the story, Acantha refused Apollo's advances and scratched his face when he tried to rape her. Apollo then turned her into an acanthus plant.[1] Another version features Acantha as a mortal man who returned Apollo's advances.[2] The matter of Acantha's identity is further confused by the fact that the acanthus plant is not a tree, but a shrub or bush, and therefore is unlikely to have had a nymph associated with it. This may simply indicate that it was perceived to be a tree at the time the myth was created.
Here you see the use of this plant's pattern in clothing.
The little nine patch checkerboard at the intersections of the four blocks is a nice touch.
A second acanthus quilt pattern appears within 6 months!
Now came the real surprsie. I found another quilt made of this pattern just this week! It has the very same over-all loss of the green coloring to that same creamy tan! They came from opposite coasts of the country. Oh how I wish there was some history of the source of these two pieces! Is it possible the two women knew each other and shared the pattern?
When I first spotted this quilt I thought it had stains.Upon closer look, however, what looks like stains in this photo are actually those same "tan-looking" leaves.
I'd appreciate from hearing from anyone who has a photo of a quilt similar to this pattern or knows of a published source for this pattern.
UPDATE: Tim Latimer of Tim Latimer Quilts, etc sent me a link to another Acanthus plant whose leaf looks even more like this quilt's pattern! (Be sure to check out Tim's gorgeous quilting!)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macleaya_microcarpa_Habitus_BotGardBln0906b.jpg
PS: August 29, 2011
See an update to this design inspired by the acanthus plant by clicking here http://karenquilt.blogspot.com/2013/08/ancient-quilt-designs-from-ephesus.html.
