1917 
25 
May, 
PATRIOTIC 
PRINTS OF 
BYGONE DAYS 
Old Kerchiefs and Cloths 
for the Collector 
GARDNER T E A L L 
The "Washington Bust" printed 
kerchief assures us that George 
Washington was the "Patriae 
Pater” and the portrait is ap¬ 
propriately s u r r 0 u n d e d by 
shields and laurel wreaths. From 
the collection of Charles Allen 
Munn, Esq. 
"The Orphan Boy,” a printed kerchief from 
the collection of the late Alexander W. 
Drake, is an unusual example of the text- 
and-picture type of printed fabrics 
C HINTZ has been called the | 
tapisserie d’Aiibusson of the | 
cottage home. Its place in the af- | 
fections of the collector of an- | 
tiques and curios has long been | 
secure. For fully fifty years and | 
more lovers of household ancien- | 
try have gathered to their appre- | 
ciation bits of old printed fabrics. | 
Originally the word chintz was | 
applied to the printed cotton fab- | 
rics from India, each piece being | 
called in early days a chint, a name | 
which was derived from the | 
Hindu cint, Bengal cit and Sans- 
crit chitra, meaning spotted or |[ 
variegated. Afterwards it came 
to be applied to the glazed print- | 
ed calicoes of European and | 
American manufacture, gaily pat- | 
terned with flowers and birds and . 
figures in diverse colors on a white 
ground. Its calendered, dust-shed¬ 
ding surface made the material a great 
favorite with careful housewives. 
Cretonne, the French substitute for 
chintz and a heavier material than it, was 
not introduced until somewhere around 
the year 1860. 
The old-time chintzes are not so easily 
picked up nowadays. However, there 
are still excellent chances of occasional 
“finds,” even in this antique-combed land 
where collecting is now one of our chief 
Below and in the upper right hand corner are 
sections of the Franklin and Washington Alle¬ 
gory. From the collection of Charles Allen 
Munn, Esq. 
;; pastimes. I know one collector 
I who has been so fortunate as to 
I obtain many quaint specimens of 
j old printed fabrics at small cost 
from an upholsterer in his own 
* town. From time to time chairs 
and sofas were brought to the up- 
holsterer to be re-covered. Often 
? these had several layers of ma¬ 
terial under the outer one. and 
below those of later days he now 
I and then would find coverings of 
old printed cotton fabrics. Among 
these were a lovely spray-pattern 
A chintz of the Queen Anne period 
I and a hand-print of pastoral de- 
I sign by one R. Jones, a manufac- 
I turer of Old Ford, London, who 
I produced patterned chintzes about 
I the year 1760. 
I ]\'Iany of the new printed cot¬ 
ton fabrics have borrowed their 
patterns from these interesting 
textile ancestors, though nowadays, in 
the case of monochrome and duochrome 
prints, the color effects are somewhat 
richer than those that obtained in the 
printed fabrics of the 18th Century, with 
their cold chocolate browns, bottle greens 
and ox-blood reds. For the collector 
there will naturally be an inimitable 
charm about the original pieces, not to 
mention their historic interest, while the 
{Continued on page 58) 
"The Token or Sailor’s Pledge of Love” is a 
printed kerchief that collectors prize. Quaint 
verses assure the doubting collector of the 
sailor’s fidelity 
Biblical subjects preceded the intro¬ 
duction of patriotic themes. Here 
Joseph is shown in a French printed 
chintz of the ISth Century 
"The Allegory of Franklin and Wash¬ 
ington” is one of the most sought 
for and prized printed chintzes in 
this field of collecting 
