Kerchief with Confederate politicians and generals

ca. 1863

Place madeEngland

Printed silk

Overall (approx.): 38 × 36 in. (96.5 × 91.4 cm)

Gift of John R. Monsky

2019.11

This kerchief depicting Confederate politicians and generals is perhaps the only political textile design produced during the Civil War to feature President Jefferson Davis. Registered in London by William Henry Tucker Kayess and likely printed at the Langley Printworks in Macclesfield, England, the patriotic luxury good was intended for smuggling past the Union blockades of Confederate ports. The design relies on pre-war portraits: the image of Jefferson Davis is after a photograph by Mathew B. Brady taken while Davis was still a US senator from Mississippi. Robert E. Lee’s portrait is after a photograph taken around 1850 and published by E. and H. T. Anthony as a carte de visite around 1861, retouched to show him wearing a uniform.

DescriptionSilk kerchief printed with five wreath medallions at center and corners, against purple background; medallions contain portraits of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals John Hunt Morgan, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and P. G. T. Beauregard; between medallions are portraits of General Joe Johnston Navy Commander Raphael Semmes, John Slidell, and James Murray Mason; wreaths composed of outhern flowers and foliage; border composed of cotton plants.

ClassificationsTEXTILES