Garden of Eden quilt, Olive Batchelor Wells

Exhibition Label:
"Quilts: Flora Botanica," Jun-2008, Barbara Brackman and Susan Earle
Olive Batchelor Wells created a unique masterpiece telling the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from paradise. Among the embroidered inscriptions is a hand pointing to the title “The Garden of Eden.” She labeled the three-dimensional central flower “Plant of Renown,” a reference to a line from the Biblical Book of Ezekiel: “And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land…”

The flower might be viewed as a promise of an abundant harvest, but Wells likely saw symbolism described in this early-nineteenth-century sermon:

“Christ gets a great many metaphorical names and descriptions in scripture; sometimes he is called a Rose, sometimes he is called a Sun, and sometimes he is called a Door, sometimes he is called the Tree of life…here he is called a Plant, and a renowned Plant…”

The Plant of Renown and the rose image offer the Old Testament hope of a future Redeemer.

Wells used a variety of needlework techniques. Particularly unusual are Adam and Eve in an old-fashioned embroidery style called stump work in which three-dimensional figures are attached to the surface. Many of her flowers were gathered in another three-dimensional technique called ruching.

Extraordinary as this piece is, quilt historians found one similar in an Ohio museum. A neighbor in Painesville, Ohio, used the same lettering, fabrics and techniques to create a patriotic quilt. Both were shown at the 1856 Lake County Fair, attracting notice from the local newspaper. “There was among numerous other beautiful ones, a Worked Quilt representing the Garden of Eden, in which were Adam and Eve, the tree of forbidden fruit, &, &, which attracted much attention.”

Archive Label 2003:
The Bible often served as inspiration for nineteenth-century quilters. In this magnificent quilt by Olive Batchelor Wells, she gives her personal vision of the Garden of Eden story. Wells chose the moment in the narrative when Adam and Eve were banished from paradise to be the focal point of her quilt, and surrounded these figures with fruits, flowers, and stars. The variety of fabrics and techniques used also attest to Wells’ creativity. Needlework created and used within the domestic sphere was one area in which women were encouraged to give their imaginations free reign.

According to family history, this quilt was displayed at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, where it won a prize before being damaged in a fire there. The quilt was donated to the Spencer by Wells’ great grandson in 1978.