This is an American Maritime Trapunto made for Lowell F. Bender's cruise on the S.S. President Cleveland to the Far East in 1939.
Trapuntos are ornately embroidered commemorative fabrics. Making a trapunto involves the addition of padding behind a piece of silk, upon which elaborate designs are embroidered to create a three-dimensional image. It was not uncommon for trapuntos of the time to contain many patriotic symbols.

Many trapuntos were made and sold by the George Washington Co. in Yokohama, Japan in the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries. Their market included American soldiers and sailors stationed in the Far East, but they were also popular with merchant seamen and civilians.

This example, dated to 1939, is among the latest known dated trapuntos. It bears many similarities to American naval trapuntos: The inscription across the top reads, "In Memory of My Cruise to the Orient," and it lists the ports-of-call as being San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Manila. There are two inserts for photographs, and embroidery of the passenger liner SS President Cleveland, and it's dated to Lowell F. Bender. Trapunto production, such as in this example, disappeared after WWII. 


Compare with other Trapuntos in the Zaricor Flag Collection: ZFC0150, ZFC0284, ZFC0289
ZFC0742, ZFC1441, ZFC1489, ZFC2219 and ZFC2258.

Provenance: Acquired by purchase in 2004.

ZFC Important Flag
Item is Framed

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