First-Quarter 20th Century; Dine
Woven in red, grey, cream, brown and blue wool with a central stepped concentric diamond motif with a central cross, and additional crosses to corners
69.5" H x 43.5" W

Provenance: Acquired by Edward T. Owen, Late 19th/Early 20th Century
Thence by descent through the family

Notes: Edward T. "Buck" Owen was a linguist, an author, an eminent professor of languages and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin, a real estate developer, a conservationist, and a collector. He was born to a wealthy family of abolitionists in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1850.

Educated at Yale, his nickname came from his habit of riding from his walled home on State Street, in Madison, Wisconsin: all 6 feet 6 inches of him, astride his gigantic bay steed, wearing white buckskin chaps to protect his white linen suit. He and his wife Emilie Pratt Owen collected Chinese and Japanese arts and crafts, Navajo rugs, Art Nouveau glassware, European porcelain, and American silver plate.

Owen was a founder of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association, a group of philanthropists who created the network of parks and nature preserves that make Madison uniquely charming. In 1892 he bought a fourteen-acre tract of what was then wooded land along a commanding height about a mile south of Lake Mendota. He donated it to the city as a pleasure drive dedicated to the memory of his daughters.

Overall good condition with dust accumulation and typical signs of wear commensurate with age and use. Issues include, but not limited to: Side A with overall fading, Side B with scattered minor foxing, and stitched fabric sleeve.