British Commemorative Panels

English panels were exported to the United States but several were made exclusively for the home audience. The English quilt on the cover of Averil Colby's book above features a floral panel with the inscription in the border "G-50-R" 

Americans would have been unenthusiastic customers for fabric celebrating the Golden Jubilee, King George III's 50th Anniversary in 1810.

King George III

The cover quilt is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. See these links:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/research-journal/issue-03/x-radiography-as-a-tool-to-examine-the-making-and-remaking-of-historic-quilts/

http://www.vam.ac.uk/microsites/quilts/detail/1434/Two_jubilees_-_George_III_Jubilee_with_Victoria_Jubilee_corner_patches

The Duke of Wellington's Victory over Napoleon in 1815 would not have inspired customers to line up at the wharves in Boston or Charleston.

See Celia's blog post about a quilt with the Wellington panel by clicking here:

http://daybook-celeste.blogspot.com/2011/08/greystoke-coverlet-curious-textile.html

"Princess Charlotte of Wales Married

to Leopold Prince of SaxeCobourg May 2, 1816"

A few years after the American/British War, George III's granddaughter Princess Charlotte married. This panel made to celebrate the wedding might have made it across the Atlantic. Royals-watchers were broken hearted when Charlotte died in childbirth a year later, making her cousin Victoria heir to the throne (Victoria married Leopold's nephew Albert.)

This English medallion quilt with a different colorway of the Princess Charlotte panel sold at Christies four or five years ago.

See more here:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5072374

The New England Quilt Museum has another fabulous medallion quilt featuring this panel. See a picture at the Quilt Index:

http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=21-41-1A

And read about a reproduction Princess Charlotte panel at Penny's blog here:

http://penelopetucker.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/princess-charlotte-medallion/

In 1821 the late Princess Charlotte's father was crowned as George IV. This panel celebrates her mother, "Her Most Gracious Majesty Caroline Queen of England." Caroline of Brunswick and George despised each other and she was barred from the Coronation, although she had her supporters, the customers for this panel.

A woodcut on paper from the time

This portrait was advertised as actress Anne Brunton Merry (1769-1808), born in England and died in Virginia. There must be many other unidentified portrait and commemorative textiles out there.

See a George IV commemorative calico at this post

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2009/09/chintz-george-iv.html 

America and Washington on a toile

It's interesting that American-themed scenic toiles were imported but we do not find any of these multicolored commemorative panels featuring Franklin, Washington, Jefferson or Liberty for the American market during this period.

UPDATE: In the comments box Hester noted the quilt on the right from a Kerry Taylor auction in 2007. Similar style and proportion in the frames; another octagonal panel.