c. 1790-1810

Bedcover

John Hewson

American, 1745 - 1821

This block-printed bedcover is a rare example of the work of John Hewson, a preeminent figure in American textile history who worked as a calico printer in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia from 1774 to 1810. Hewson had apprenticed at several leading textile printworks in England before immigrating to Philadelphia at the encouragement of Benjamin Franklin. He was justly proud of the quality of his "printed linens, cottons, and callicoes," advertising in the Pennsylvania Packet in 1781 that "he will warrant them to wash, and to be as well executed as any European goods whatever, or return the money."

This bedcover is in nearly pristine condition, preserving the integrity and vitality of the original color palette. Another surviving example in the museum’s collection—similarly elaborately patterned with drapery swags, floral borders, and a center square with a flower-filled urn—belonged to Hewson himself.