1850-1859

Janet E. Finley Collection of Quilt History Photographs

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Cased Ambrotype c. 1855-1859
Photographer: Isaac Rehn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Size: Fourth Plate (3.125" x 4.125")

The earliest example of a quilt in my collection is of an 1850s gentlemen posing for his studio portrait. He is sitting in a chair with his right arm resting on a table covered with a quilt or quilt top consisting of a pattern of pieced squares in striped and plain contrasting fabrics. The gentleman's cheeks and lips are colored in a light pink blush. Since this was an expensive process, done by hand application, only small areas were chosen for tinting. Rehn, a Philadelphia photographer (1849-1860s), is one of the more interesting figures in the ambrotype era. Rehn first appeared in the Philadelphia city directories in 1845 as a painter, but, in 1849, he turned to photography and travelled to Boston to partner with James A. Cutting, a renowned early daguerreotypist. Rehn and Cutting succeeded in filing for patents for their ambrotype process July 4th and 11th, 1854. Rehn is credited for introducing and producing the first ambrotypes in Philadelphia. In addition, Rehn was active in the spiritualist movement as the spiritualists connected the luminous process of the ambrotype with spiritualism. When this ambrotype was popped out of its case, glued to the back was a message from I. Rehn about the ambrotype process and his patent announcement.

-- With permission of the publisher, excerpted from Janet E. Finley, Quilts in EveryDay Life 1855-1955 (Schiffer Publishing, 2012).