Valance
- Object Name:
- Valance
- Object ID:
- 1939.014.16
- Creator:
- Willis, Elizabeth (1761-1848); Kimball, Fanny W. (1792-1860)
- Place of Origin:
- Hanover, NH
- Date:
- 1780-1830
- Description:
- Bed Valance. Embroidered in crewel (worsted) yarns in shades of blue on plain-woven linen, with netted edging. The design consists of separate stylized flowering plants, worked in New England laid, cross, buttonhole, herringbone, and outline stitches. Where the stitching has worn away, the faintly inked outlines of the embroidery pattern are visible. Said to have been made by Fanny Willis Kimball (1792-1860). More likely, the crewelwork valance was made by Fanny's mother, Elizabeth Willis, and then Fanny added the netted edging, as crewelwork bed hangings were out of fashion by 1800. The straight cut of the valance indicates that it was made at the end of the mode, when the straight lines of Neoclassicism had started to affect fashion towards the end of the 18th century. Netted edgings, such as that seen here, were fashionable in the Empire period, in the 1820s and 1830s, when Fanny would have been a young adult and would likely have wanted to update the appearance of her mother's bed hangings.
- Material:
- Textile
- Dimensions:
- W-19.5 L-79.75 inches
- Provenance:
- Made by Elizabeth Willis (1761-1848) and her daughter, Fanny Willis Kimball (1792-1860), wife of Robert Kimball (1786-1875) of Plainfield, and Lebanon. The donor, Anna K. Grow (1881-1968), was the adopted daughter of Mary E. Kimball (1834-1913), daughter of Robert and Fanny W. Kimball.
- Credit Line:
- Gift of Anna K. Grow
Electronic Resources are only available to New Hampshire Historical Society members. To access electronic resources, please join the New Hampshire Historical Society.