Tool (for textiles) (Textile printing block)

Description

This wooden print block was once used for printing on cotton textiles by Massachusetts textile manufacturer Pacific Mills. Irregularly shaped areas containing raised laminated geometric designs are nailed to the base of the block. This may have been meant to be used together with other print blocks to create a representational image, but the design appears abstract on its own. This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.