"The Tilted Bowl"

Dateca. 1840

Artist Matilda A. Haviland (1817-1853)

OriginAmerica, New York, Dutchess County (probably)

MediumPaint on cotton velvet

DimensionsOther (unframed): 14 1/2 × 17 1/2 in (36.83 × 44.45cm)
Framed: 18 3/8 × 21 3/4 in (46.67 × 55.24cm)

Credit LineGift of the Museum of Modern Art

Object number1932.403.1

DescriptionA composition showing a Canton-type bowl with pseudo-Chinese characters on it, the bowl tipped at about a 45-degree angle on a brown rectangular base and spilling various fruits, while other fruits are clustered around the bowl. A large grape vine and its leaves fill the upper left corner along with a stylized flying insect. Several colors seem to have faded considerably.

The 2-inch mahogany-veneered frame is probably a period replacement.Label TextResearch thus far has revealed only one potential artist: Matilda A. Haviland, the wife of Hiram Haviland (1805-1887), a farmer and carpenter of Quaker Hill, Pawling, Dutchess County, New York [n. 1].

Many examples of this popular theorem design exist, with variations in the locations of the fruits perhaps indicating that stencils were made separately for each item. Haviland's dispersed arrangement creates a relatively abstract interpretation of the design. The freehand ink-and-yellow butterfly in the upper left corner is a rare and fanciful addition to the basic composition.

Haviland seems to have left her work unfinished, because the whitest spaces, which were reserved for several different fruits, are not faded; they lack pigment altogether.Haviland also recycled the velvet primary support from an earlier project, as indicated by the faint traces left by two parallel, horizontal rows of stitching.

Inscription(s)Signed at lower right in ink in script: "Matilda A. Haviland". Within the composition, the oval on the side of the bowl is lettered "R. A. G."ProvenanceFound in New York (state vs. city is undetermined); M/M Elie Nadelman, Riverdale, NY; Edith Gregpr Halpert, Downstown Gallery, New York, NY; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, New York, NY; given by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, in 1939; given by MoMA to CWF in June 1954.