The panels of this patchwork and appliqué cover depict a variety of engaging imagery including military, symbolic, allegorical, commemorative and everyday scenes, alongside floral decorations. The design celebrates everyday activities and pleasures alongside scenes of military and cultural achievements.
The design includes an embroidered inscription stating that it was made in Prague, in 1790. Directly above the inscription is the vivid allegorical symbol of the skeleton, personifying Death. This serves to emphasize the fleetingness of earthly experiences and achievements, providing a symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. Decorative and celebratory textiles such as this often had a moral element; another example here is the piece's only Biblical imagery, showing Adam and Eve in their state of innocence before the Fall.
The centre is dominated by a coat-of-arms featuring the Imperial eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, with the Czech lion in the middle, and most probably it refers to the beginning of reign of Josef II. (1790). Below the coat-of-arms is a panorama of a city under siege. This may represent a specific historical event, or be simply a generic military scene. This and other martial elements in the patchwork, placed alongside the men and women shown at their occupations and leisure pursuits, serve to emphasize the reassuring pattern of everyday life, and civilisation, that armies and wars were supposed to protect.
One of the contemporary events depicted is that of an early hot-air balloon flight, with a panel depicting two men watching a hot-air balloon floating along the horizon. Balloon flight was a scientific feat that caught popular imagination in the late 18th century and the public spectacles of flights were widely disseminated through printed material, numerous objects were produced decorated with featuring ballooning iconography. The first successful manned balloon flight took place on 21 November 1783, when Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes took off at Versailles in a hot air balloon constructed by the Montgolfier brothers. This patchwork is an example of how the achievement of balloon flight was commemorated in domestically produced objects. The balloon is probably in commemoration of the first balloon flight in Prague, which was undertaken by the Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, with Count von Sternberg as his passenger. However this flight is recorded as taking place on 31st October 1790, which is fifteen days after the creation date embriodered on the cover.
The maker of the quilt is unknown, but it may have been commissioned by someone from the higher ranks of society. It has been suggested that the use of French, rather than German, for the inscription could be simply due to the commissioner’s individual preference for French, perhaps influenced by the general European fashion for all things French during this period