Mallards in a Snowstorm
Silk or rayon material, cotton and brin; dyed
Design in production by 1929

     These designs closely resemble a 1929 calendar cover for the Peters Cartridge Company of Cincinnati, Ohio which is a print of five Mallards in flight designed by Lynn Bogue Hunt. Calendar art was one of the few sources for designs in the earlier days of the Industrial. Today many of the mat hookers remember this as one of their favorite patterns: "I liked the ducks and the shadin' of the sky was all like rainbow colours." Another said: "Took me two weeks to do a Mallard duck, got $10.00 for it." This pattern was exhibited at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1951. "I didn't realize they did such exquisite work," said a woman as she gazed longingly at the booth's most expensive item, a hooked mat of ducks flying southward over marsh grasses. It sold for $45 which was considered unusually reasonable for such fine work. Originally hooked as a mat, this design was also used as the cover of a 1944 engagement calendar produced for the Grenfell Mission.

     In the Snow scene, the cotton cloth strips used for the snow create a slightly raised texture. In the two larger geese note how the varied colourations in the sky are carried through the wings of the ducks.