During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the quilted bedcovers that existed were nearly all utilitarian, of heavy worsted material or woollen fabric encasing an old woollen blanket.
When decorative quilts appeared at the end of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries they were the province of the wealthy. These quilts were mainly patchworks utilising expensive imported fabrics such as chintz, silks, velvet and ribbons.
This exceptionally large “Tree of Life” quilt came from a gentry house in the Gwaun Valley, Pembrokeshire and was made in 1810.