Not only are these centres, especially made for patchworkers, very rare this one has the added interest of being produced for Princess Charlotte's marriage in 1816.
These centres were printed on cotton by John Lowe & Co, Shepley Hall, If you look at the V & A link below you will see how they were positioned two to a width of fabric, cut out and sold. In the corner of theirs is printed the name G Swindels, presumably the printer who carried out the work.
*The Charleston Museum, S Carolina has a 1830s chintz fragment printed by John Lowe. High end furniture prints were popular for applique quilts, bed and window hangings.
The octagonal shape with a central spray of flowers including roses, poppies, lilac, lillies and pansies surrunded by a border with HRH Princess Charlotte of Wales Married to Leopold Prince of Saxe Coburg May 2, 1816, the centre top with Ich Diea and the three feathers and the crown of the Princess of Wales, the Royal Coat of Arms below Dieu et mon Droit , a crown either side interspersed with a continous rose meander, all in hand blocked in shades of pink, blue, brown on a cream cotton ground.
The actual print 31.5 cm
Clearly this is faded, but the colours are still lovely. You should be able to see that the printed section is coming away from the plain white cotton edging.
*Printed Textiles. British and American Cottons and Linens 1700-1850 by Linda Eaton.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O319353/textile-john-lowe-co/
http://chintzpanelquilt.blogspot.com/2018/10/panel-21-princess-charlotte-of-wales.html
All images and text © meg-andrews.com 2021
