Quilt central panel and outer border: 17th century; inner border: second half of 17th century Chinese, for European market, and European The embroidered portions of this cloth were probably once part of a large marriage bedcover made in China for export. Later, the precious bedcover was cut up, and portions were pieced together with a delicate quilted European floral silk to create the panel as it appears today.¹ Its relatively small size indicates that it may have served as a christening or bearing cloth for a child being carried to the baptismal font for christening.² At the very center of t

Quilt central panel and outer border: 17th century; inner border: second half of 17th century Chinese, for European market, and European The embroidered portions of this cloth were probably once part of a large marriage bedcover made in China for export. Later, the precious bedcover was cut up, and portions were pieced together with a delicate quilted European floral silk to create the panel as it appears today.¹ Its relatively small size indicates that it may have served as a christening or bearing cloth for a child being carried to the baptismal font for christening.² At the very center of the textile are three bands from the original coverlet, one with a roundel containing a scene of a man and a woman flanking a tree, perhaps inspired by traditional depictions of Adam and Eve. The blossoming tree grows from a large container decorated with a continuous pattern of hexagons, a Chinese design suggesting longevity, and on the tree is a bleeding heart pierced with arrows, a secular symbol referring to love and devotion in Renaissance Europe.³ The dress of the couple is generally consistent with that of late sixteenth to early seventeenth century Europe: the woman’s unstructured clothing is typical of the early seventeenth century, while the man’s hat conforms to late sixteenth-century examples.⁴ Their garments are overembroidered with repeating Chinese patterns, as if made to resemble Chinese silk damasks. The two other adjoining bands at the center of the panel were formerly one. If placed one directly above the other, they form a scene with a pair of ducks in a lotus pond. Although the lotus pond is an enduring theme in Chinese textiles, here the pattern shows a heightened emphasis on flower centers, common in Chinese export textiles, and another type of duck has been substituted for the pair of egrets or mandarin ducks more frequently found in a traditional Chinese image. Another part of the original coverlet was retained as the embroidered border of the p

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