Light & Dark COURTHOUSE STEPS Log Cabin QUILT, c. 1880 Rectangular Size: 70" x 76"; Solid Color WOOLS; from PA Start Price USD 1,500.00 Current Price USD 1,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Tuesday, July 01, 2008 End Time Friday, July 11, 2008 Location Woodside, New York See more about 'Light & Dark COURTHOUSE STEPS Log Cabin QUILT, c. 1880' Description From Steve Kane Quilts and Folk Art - A QUALITY QUILT - Light & Dark COURTHOUSE STEPS   Log Cabin QUILT,  c. 1880 Rectangular size: approx. 70 inches by 76 inches; Found in Pennsylvania; Made about 1880; Solid Color Wools (in top design); RED Polished Cotton BACKING  and BINDING; Excellent Condition, with several tiny spots of fabric loss and a stain on the Back. SOLID COLOR WOOLS include: Red, Black, Light and Dark Blue, Brown, Tan, Peach, Green and Gray.  Tonal values and color juxtapositions produce LIGHT & DARK and patterned interplays in this whimsical version of the "COURTHOUSE STEPS" Variation of the LOG CABIN QUILT TYPE. The rectangular "logs" surround a central "chimney" square which has an elusive effect upon the viewer's eye as it finds its place in the overall design.  Saturated colors leap across the pattern to link the eye with the other parts of the pattern while remaining true to the total tonal effect. The LOG CABIN is an icon of Americana which Scotch-Irish settlers of the early Eighteenth Century spread across the frontier.  The first Scotch-Irish American President born on the frontier in a log cabin was Andrew Jackson who was elected in 1828, but it was not until the Presidential Election of 1840 when Benjamin A. Harrison, the "Tippacanoe" of "Tippacanoe and Tyler too!" fame, made the log cabin a political advertising statement of fundamental American values. Quiltmakers followed the log cabin imagery and used long narrow strips of fabric which formed large, overall patterns such as "Barnraising," "Straight Furrow," or "COURTHOUSE STEPS."  This pattern was the choice of the COLORISTS of the American Quilt Tradition who preferred "piecing" to the DRAFTSMAN's "quilting."  Log Cabin Quilts are constructs and are not usually quilted with elaborate quilting.  Simple ECHO QUILTING of the logs and chimney set the stage for the bravura display of COLOR! The BINDING and the BACKING  are a bold RED Polished Cotton that you can see in the upturned edge in the detail photo.  There is a light stain on the Back which does not show on the Front.  The several spots of minor fabric loss is characteristic of wools of this period.  This QUILT  is well-made and in excellent condition.  It is highly recommended for Bed or Wall display. VISIT MY eBAY STORE TO VIEW MORE ANTIQUE AMERICAN QUILTS AND OTHER FOLK ART ITEMS.  Code LC 34   Place a Bid!