Silk Boutis ca 1850- $5000

Found in the south of France, this gorgeous boutis measures 68" x 60 1/2". One side is a green silk with very dainty purple flowers. The other side is a warm chocolate brown silk. This was most likely a wedding boutis. The center of the quilt is a diamond with the initials "AB" surrounded by quilting. There are four hearts placed in each corner surrounding the center with echo quiltng. There is then a border of laurel leaves, a border of diamonds with flowers in the center, urns in the corners and a final wavy border. There are no areas of stain or fading. It is in excellent condition.

"Boutis is a nineteenth-century Provencal word with broad definition. Provencal women used it to refer to the corded or quilted needlework technique for making jupons (petticoats), couvre-lits (large bedcovers), vannes or vanhos (small bedcovers), and petassouns (infant pieces). Boutis was also the term given to the blunt-nosed needle used to draw cording through narrow channels of stitching. " Kathryn Berenson Quilts of Provence pg. 132.