"Early Americana'" or "Period" scene depicting an activity rarely seen today. Artist is Enoch Wood Perry (1831-1915), Art date is 1875. The social aspects of cooperative quilting around a frame have captured the eye of many painters of "Americana."
Perry was born in Boston in1831 but moved to New Orleans and opened a studio in 1860. He painted a portrait of Senator John Slidell and the signing the Ordinance of Secession of Louisiana by early 1861. Later in 1861 Perry completed a portrait of Jefferson Davis posed before a map of the Confederate States of America, which was raffled off at a fair with the proceeds benefiting the southern war effort. Around 1864, Perry sailed to Honolulu, with the idea of painting the wonders of nature there, and was well received. Perry traveled to most of the islands, and painted landscapes and portraits, including posthumous images of King Kamehameha IV and his young son Prince Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Leiopapa a Kamehameha, as well as Hawaiian landscapes. In 1865 Perry painted a portrait of Brigham Young which hangs in the Salt Lake City Council chambers. It was reported that a spitoon and ring with freemasonry symbols were removed from the painting. Perry then moved to New York and died at his home in the City in 1915.