To herald the advent of the new (and hopefully peaceful) year, treat your senses to a luxurious antique velvet or silk quilt from Laura Fisher at the FISHER HERITAGE gallery, 305 East 61st Street, 5th Floor (Hayes Fine Arts Building) through the end of February.

“A jewel tone, intricately pieced velvet or silk quilt from America’s past offers both a visual and tactile experience as well as an historic connection,” Fisher recommends. The luxury materials that became decorative, not utilitarian, quilts were wildly fashionable in the late 19th century thanks to the increasing wealth and urbanity of a growing middle class. Few quilters today work with these luxury fabrics, so our antique examples are sought after for the sumptuousness of the materials, the depth of color, the needlework and their lustrous, sexy allure.

The traditional ‘crazy’ quilt style that trended during the Victorian era is just one type of ‘show’ quilt in Fisher’s New Year collection. Harder to find are the velvets and silks that were pieced in inventive designs; some have a bonus of fabulous embroidery, and each is heirloom quality suitable for display.

Velvet and silk were costly materials, and have an international history long associated with wealth and royalty (and if you were wondering just what to buy for them, perhaps a quilt would be the perfect wedding gift for Britain’s Wills and Kate!)

Velvet, one of the oldest fabrics extant, originated in Kashmir in the 14th century, it was marketed to the Middle East; later flourished in Cairo and migrated to Italy where still today its manufacture exemplifies that country’s great textile tradition. Silk production originated in China thousands of years ago, travelled to western Europe with the opening of the Silk Road, and is now produced around the globe.

Instructions for working with these fine materials were published in ladies’ manuals during the late 19th century. The inspiration for ‘crazy’ quilts is said to be the crackled asymmetrical glaze on Japanese pottery introduced to the American market at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.

Most of the quilts in Fisher’s collection date from the Victorian era of the late 1880s.  Examples include:

A VELVET LAYERED ‘FANS’ PIECED QUILT, an optical illusion dazzler that is the cover quilt on American Quilts: the Democratic Art (Robert Shaw, Rizzoli, 2009)

A VELVET ‘FOUR-PATCH DIAMOND’ of 1” pieces in jewel tone colors in a lively linear array against a black ground

A SILK PIECED BLOCKS ‘SAMPLER’ in radiant colors framed in a grid

A SILK ‘FIGURAL ALBUM’ with Kate Greenaway girls in black face

A VELVET ‘SPOOLS’ PATTERN in a rainbow of colors

A VELVET ‘DIAMOND LATTICE’ of white flowers and French knots on black

A SILK ‘49 FANS’ with profuse floral embroidery, metallics and lace

A VELVET ‘BOWTIES’ PATTERN of naturalistic printed upholstery fabric

A SILK ‘CHEVRONS’ in a bold modernist graphic design

and several ‘CRAZY’ QUILTS in silk with diverse formats such as a center medallion,  sampler blocks with American flag, lace edgings, or incredible floral embroidery.

HOURS: Monday-Friday from 11-4:30; other times by appointment.

Tel. 212/ 838-2596