Quilt No.54RO - Robyn Oliver

2290 x 1350mm
Purchased from the estate of Erice Zilliotto (nee Barratto) Griffith NSW by the present owner.
Erice Zilliotto (nee Baratto) was born in 1913 in Cavaso, Treviso, Italy. She could machine knit by the time she was 11. Later she moved to Rome where she had a machine knitting business at home, employing 2 - 3 girls. She knitted for nuns at the Vatican. Around 1962 she came to Australia on holiday, met her husband in Wollongong, and they moved to Griffith. There she did knitting by private order, and produced some fine courtelle suits and dresses. Her mother, born in 1893, was also a machine knitter. Her sister Bianca also learned to machine knit, not at home, but from the monastery.
Angela and Erice Zilliotto were the first and second wives of the same man. They came from the same town in Italy and their quilts were found in the same house in Griffith.
[Robyn Oliver 1998]
Related Quilts:
The coverlet is decorated with rows of pieced work surrounding appliquéd and embroidered scenes. A panel down the LHS of the quilt and a smaller panel lower RHS depict animals and floral images. In the centre RHS an elderly couple sit beneath a tree. In the upper left a bride and groom accompanied by three flower girls are showered with petals from a wicker basket carried by a very large angel. Glass beads, sequins and a button have been used to highlight the appliqué and embroidery.
As with all of Mary Jane Hannaford's quilts, the work is stitched by hand and quite crudely, but the naivety of the images is overwhelming with their charm." [NGA] The quilt is not padded or lined. 1950 x 1690mm
2240 x 885mm
1580 x 1200mm