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Hanging
1876/1900
- Medium
- Pieced, painted and embroidered quilt; silk and cotton velvet weaves; silk embroidery threads; metal, silk and cotton cord
- Classification
- Textile
- Dimensions
- 208 × 92.1 cm (81 7/8 × 36 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- United States
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- Grace R. Smith Textile Endowment
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The images on this hanging signal that it may be a souvenir of Mexico. The octagonal piece of fabric in the center features the national coat of arms: an eagle eating a serpent grasped in its talons while standing on a prickly pear cactus. Irregularly shaped pieces of fabric surround this central image and contain painted scenes that depict bullfighting, pre-Columbian sculpture, flowers, butterflies, views of the landscape, and scenes of everyday life. The collection and combination of these scenes suggest that the hanging could be an expression of affection for a place well known and loved or a place imagined through armchair travel.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
