Antique quilts, art quilts, molas and antique textiles from the collection of A. Barbara Horvàth-Storms. The oldest piece recorded here was sewn in the USA around 1840, the youngest this century by her own hand.
The finest in Quilts!
BAHO stands for one of the finest and richest quilt collections in all of Europe. It was gathered over six decades, not bought in for a season.
The holdings comprise antique quilts and art quilts, baby quilts, molas, antique textiles and lace, along with cushions and wall hangings. All hand-quilted.
We show every piece with its date, origin, technique, condition and size. Where a piece is damaged, the damage stands in the data block, not in the small print. A fragment from 1860 remains a fragment from 1860, and it is to be had as exactly that.
“One of a kind”: the singular piece.
There is no secure account of where the quilting technique came from. In China and Japan it can be traced back more than a thousand years; in the West such work appears only in the Middle Ages.
It seems likely that knights at the time of the Crusades, and merchants on their travels to the Near and Far East, took a liking to the comfortable quilted undergarments worn beneath the armour of the foreign horsemen. They brought such garments home and had them made here as well.
Quilts were warming covers. Emigrants trying to escape poverty and confinement in Europe carried the technique to the New World. In America above all, the plain quilt and — because new fabric was scarce and dear — the patchwork quilt had their great flowering.
“Make the Best of it” was of necessity the motto of many a needlewoman.
Like all works of craft, quilts have long since become sought-after collectors' objects. After many years, an art has found its way back to Europe and into its galleries.
A modern Quilt with a striking graphic effect.
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A new Quilt of astonishing (!) quality.
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Large Quilt in fabrics typical of the period, with lilac Sashing that is current today!
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Double-sided Patchwork - extremely rare! Very rich decorative piece with particularly fine brocade fabrics in very good condition.
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A very elaborate Postage Stamp Quilt. A true picture book of the fabrics of its time and thus a collector's item!
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A Quilt “dans-les-bleues” around a romantic Indienne fabric.
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A romantic Quilt with particularly rich quilting, which underscores the charm of this piece.
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A rather rare pattern in beautiful shades typical of the period. Quilt in excellent condition!
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Linen and cotton, finely coordinated in colour.
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A Quilt in the best tradition, with the sure sense of colour that distinguishes this quilter's work.
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Silk and silk brocade with very rich chenille embroidery. Further details: velvet painting, varied decorative embroidery on the seams.
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Graphically very attractive Quilt with rich, decorative quilting in very good execution.
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A Quilt typical of the Depression era, yet with a cheerful appearance.
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Classic bed Quilt in an attractive lilac colour.
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Graphically very modern-looking, visually attractive decorative piece.
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Classic bed Quilt with a finely finished, curved border.
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An elegant piece with very decorative quilting!
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A historically interesting piece. Silk and cotton are combined spectacularly in this Summerspread (without filling).
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A classic floral Quilt in very careful execution with dense, rich hand-quilting.
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This fragment stands out through the great number of Smallprints in black/white typical of the period, and is a good collector's piece.
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Interesting decorative object with rich quilting in very good execution.
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Baby Quilt with sweet bear motifs. Ideal as a gift for a birth or christening.
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Wall object with a brilliant visual effect.
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Bed Quilt carefully composed in colour, with elaborate, fine quilting!
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Despite its age, the fine choice of fabrics gives this Quilt a thoroughly modern effect. Very beautiful and very fine hand-quilting!
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Special Amish design in attractive colours with very rich and good hand-quilting!
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A very distinctive colour scheme combined with very rich and well-executed quilting!
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Decorative bedspread that suits an interior with an Asian touch.
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An eye-catcher of the very first order, with an unusual colour composition and overwhelming hand-quilting!
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Decorative piece with good hand-quilting.
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Elegant Silk Throw in reed green, presentable on both sides and featherlight, with very good quilting.
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A Quilt with well-judged colouring in the Amish manner and very rich hand-quilting!
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The pattern is very rare because it is extremely elaborate! Added to this is perfect, very rich hand-quilting - a find!
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A Quilt with a special back and therefore usable on both sides. Very rich hand-quilting!
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A distinctive pattern in a fine choice of fabrics and with very rich and very good hand-quilting!
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In the small size usable as a couch throw or baby Quilt. In the large size a double-bed Quilt at an unbeatably favourable price! Elaborate Patchwork combined with extremely rich hand-quilting!
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An elaborate Patchwork combined with extremely rich hand-quilting! Available in two sizes: - approx. 135 × 130 cm CHF 930.-- - approx. 216 × 160 cm CHF 1‘800.--
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Stylistically pure bed Quilt with the typical fabrics of the 1950s.
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Baby Quilt / wall hanging
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Double-bed Quilt with the very spectacular solitaire star and rich hand-quilting.
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Wall hanging in a decorative play of colours.
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Decorative work with an interesting choice of fabrics.
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Quilt with a loving choice of fabrics and in very careful execution!
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Subtle colouring, suited to a period interior, with very rich quilting.
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Interpretation of the theme “the Four Seasons”.
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Natural-coloured raw silk interspersed with delicate vieux rose, and excellent hand-quilting!
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Log Cabin variation with striped and checked fabrics in a barn raising setting.
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Hand-dyed and hand-printed fabrics, combined with elaborate Patchwork and very fine quilting!
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Classic variation with french knots and dense hand-quilting.
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Classic double-bed Quilt with very fine hand-quilting.
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Large Prints lend this classic Block a certain refinement! Lavish hand-quilting completes the design.
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Modern design in an attractive colour scheme and in very careful execution!
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Classic double-bed Quilt with very elaborate Patchwork in a vast variety of fabrics.
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Mini Log Cabin with an unusual choice of fabrics (large prints).
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Modern interpretation of an ultra-classic technique.
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Rural fabric prints and cosy colouring, combined with affectionate quilting motifs.
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Variation of a 4-Patch / 9-Patch in warm colours and with fabric prints that are not quite everyday.
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Log Cabin made entirely of Mille Fleurs fabrics in black and white. Hand-quilting in every seam rounds off this elegant Quilt.
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Extremely elaborate workmanship with hand-quilting in every seam!
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Very dense and well-executed hand-quilting.
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8-pointed Stars in a cool, elegant colour scheme with elaborate hand-quilting.
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Locarno's local mountain was the inspiration for this Log Cabin interpretation.
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Hand-quilting in every seam!
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A spectacular double-bed Quilt at an unbeatably favourable price, with dense and well-executed hand-quilting!
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Dense and very well-executed hand-quilting over all!
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Decorative object in a very subtle colour scheme.
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Dense and very well-executed hand-quilting over all!
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This Quilt shows some particularities in the setting of the fabrics (smart setting). Here, in the best tradition, what was missing was replaced with what was at hand and cleverly integrated into the design.
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Very fine cross over quilting executed by hand! The Quilt contains some mini-print fabrics that have been reissued in recent years...
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The Top consists of an originally sateen-finished wool-cotton blend in twill weave. The loose wool batting is tamed and secured by breathtaking quilting.
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Child's blanket with particularly charming summer bears.
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Affectionate youth Quilt with the finest fabrics of the period!
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A beautifully executed work with magnificent fabrics and the three Blocks in the contrasting colour yellow for the Trinity.
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Opulent double-bed Quilt with very rich and beautiful quilting.
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Classic Block with pieced sashings in early machine work and with good hand-quilting.
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Decorative bed Quilt with fine hand-quilting.
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A superb Quilt, with the charm of very old fabric prints and the quality of a new making!
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Quilt with one “odd block” (nobody is perfect!) and enormously rich hand-quilting!
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Lovingly worked Quilt with a careful choice of fabrics and a very decorative effect!
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A fantastic Quilt in red-white-blue and therefore rather rare on the open market. The back is of hand-dyed cotton. Fine and very rich hand-quilting rounds off this magnificent double-bed Quilt (king-size!).
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This Quilt deserves a wall! A countless multitude of different fabrics has been composed here into a masterpiece.
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Fascinating choice of fabrics with an absolutely perfect Setting! Rounded off with good hand-quilting.
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At twenty, in 1960, A. Barbara Horvàth-Storms sewed her first quilt. A year later an American friend gave her an old quilt. From that gift grew the collection that makes up the holdings of this gallery today.
Since 1960 her name has stood for quilts in Switzerland. She taught in courses and seminars and made patchwork and quilting the most widespread needlework in the country. She ran BAHO Quilt Galleries in Murten, in Zurich and in Bern, with thousands of fabrics, with books, with supplies. Two books of her own followed: Patchwork Ideen and Patchwork Quilts.
For fifteen years she staged the Swiss Quilt International, at the Kursaal Bern, the Hotel Enge Murten, the Casino Bern and the Kongresshaus Zurich. The exhibition brought quilts of museum quality and of the highest international standard to Switzerland.
Under her direction the Swiss Cantons Quilt was made, worked by women from all over Switzerland. The poster of it shows 28 images and costs CHF 25.
Her private collection was on view for nine months at the Historical Museum of Murten.
An enquiry is one sentence. Write which piece interests you and how we can reach you. Everything else is settled on the telephone or in front of the quilt.
The collection is kept in one place today. It is a store rather than a shop gallery, but well suited to a presentation on site — pieces are hung beforehand on request. By appointment.