Panel (Appliqué)

Description

This panel is a good example of American needlework home craft. The abundance of fancy flannels in the last quarter of the 19th century helps to date the piece. Appliqué rugs on pieced wool grounds seem to have been common in New England and the upper North East at this time. Three-story school houses were in existence in New Hampshire by the 1840s, and the appliquéd buildings could be loose appropriations of local school houses. This panel was once used as a wall hanging by the donor, but its original function may have been as a table rug, hearth rug, or crawling rug. The iconography of the applied motifs would certain have been appealing to a child, which suggests its possible use as a crawling rug, however, it is truly difficult to establish a real singular function for the panel.