Design in Deerfield

The Pomegranate Motif

Pomegranate in Blue and White embroidery

This doily is an example of how the stylized pomegranate, inspired by Colonial representations of the fruit, was adapted by Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting to a Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework design. Here, several pale-colored interpretations of the bulbous fruit are attached to fragile stems and spiral out from a centralized Blue and White Society logo (a 'D' surrounded by a flax wheel). In general, the 18th-century motifs incorporated into Blue and White designs were given a unity of scale and orderly arrangement distinct from their often more lyrical and slightly more random placement in 18th-century work.