Images(4)

Cover, Pillow

Object number2021.41.8

Made by Leonilde Frieri Ruberto

Date1934

OriginCairano, Italy

MediumFabric

Credit LineGift of Laura E. Ruberto

DescriptionNearly square off-white fabric pillow cover. Bottom of front has triangular area featuring two nude winged putti, one playing a flute and one holding a flower; background has openwork crochet and numerous fabric flowers. Triangular area is bordered on top two sides with eyelet flower shapes. Left and right corners have embroidered flowers with openwork crochet curvilinear stems. Open-weave border line inset along each edge that separates the single-layer decorated area from the double-layered edges.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 35.625 x 36.125 x 0.125 in. (90.5 x 91.8 x 0.3 cm)
Historical NotesPart of Leonilde Frieri Ruberto's wedding trousseau. Needlework was done with a combination of handwork and machine work. She made them in Cairano, Italy and brought them with her to Pittsburgh. This pillow cover would have been placed on top of the more simple pillow sham. Leonilde Frieri Ruberto was born in Cairano, Italy and lived through World War II while her husband was held as a POW in the U.K and the United States. Later in her life, after the earthquake in Irpinia one of her daughters asked her to write down her life story in a spiral notebook. Written in imperfect Italian in one continuous sentence, Ruberto describes her life in Cairano, raising children with a husband abroad (he immigrated to Venezuela after the war to earn money), and migrating to the neighborhood of Bloomfield in Pittsburgh. Ruberto’s granddaughter published her memoir in a bilingual edition called Such Is Life; the cover shows Leonilde doing needlework, as her family often remembers her doing. She was a skilled sewer and needleworker.

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