Lancaster Amish quilt, Center Square pattern, c. 1895. Machine assembled and hand-quilted.
Top: Twill-weave wool.
Back: Soft red twill-weave cotton.
Quilting: Dark-colored thread used in fine regular stitches. Inner square is filled with a large feather wreath with surrounding areas in waffle. Inner border has diamond quilting with a pumpkin seed flower within each. Outer border is filled with scrolling feathers and scalloping along its inner edge.
Blue 1" binding is machine sewn front and back.
Provenance
Esprit purchased from an unknown seller for $3.800 in April 1978.
Lancaster Amish quilt is a Center Square pattern, c. 1895. Machine joined; finely quilted with black thread.
Top: Twill-weave wools. Center is brown, 38" wide, pieced with one large piece and 5" strip at one side made of four smaller pieces. Inner border is medium blue, 4" wide. Outer border is dark olive green, 14" wide. Binding is medium blue, 1 1/2" wide, machine stitched to both back and front.
Back: Brown twill-weave wool with a narrow panel pieced at both sides of cinnamon brown sateen cotton.
Batting: Lightweight, either cotton or wool.
Quilting: Outer border filled with a gracefully curved scrolling feather. Inner border has 4-petal "pumpkin seed" flowers surrounded by a geometric diamond pattern. The 4 "pumpkin seed" shapes of these flowers slant sideways, creating a more dynamic feel. Center square has concentric feather rings with the center filled with a scallop-edged circle of waffle quilting. Outside corners are also filled with waffle quilting.
Provenance
Esprit purchased from Gaye N. Delling of Evergreen, CO in April of 1989 for $6,500.
Very dark liquid stains sprinkled mostly along one side of outer border; light liquid stains sprinkled elsewhere. Some liquid ate through fabric resulting in tiny holes mostly around outer border; cluster of holes near one corner of quilt has one larger hole of about 1/2" diameter.
Detailed 1989 condition report by conservator Linnea Davis in file: old repairs of holes and stains at outer border. Binding is faded with tack holes.
Lancaster Amish quilt is a Center Square pattern, c. 1895. Finely quilted w/ symmetry & precision. Assembled by machine and hand-quilted with brown cotton thread.
Top: Twill- and plain-weave wool. Center square of teal is 34 inches wide. Inner border (4 1/4" wide) is green and wide outer border (16" wide) is red. Faded blue binding is 1 1/4" wide.
Quilting: Same patterns, but differs slightly from the quilting of the previous two Center Square quilts. The large scrolls of the feather pattern of the outer border create compressed oval shapes rather than the conventional circular shapes. Scallops along the inner edge. Inner border has straight feather quilting. At one side of inner border is a significant gap between the feather ends, filled with a 5/8"-diameter ring. Center Square has a large, thin feather wreath. Waffle quilting fills inside and outside of wreath; scallops at both inside and outside edges of waffle quilting.
Provenance
Esprit purchased from Phyllis Haders of New York and Mystic, Conn., May 1984 for $9,000.
Overall fading. Outer border has multiple holes from about 1/2" x 1/4" big to 1/8" dia. that have been repaired by filling with similar twill fabric. Much of this border has pronounced discoloration/stains/soil and large areas are threadbare. Binding is significantly deteriorated with multiple breaks, fraying and small holes. Crepeline support added to bindings in 1985 and velcro on tape attached. Due to deterioration, removed velcro & crepeline in 1990, examined and replaced w/ new velcro on tape and some patches of crepeline. See condition reports in file.
Birth & baptismal certificate on laid paper. Printed form with central textblock in German within a multiple line border. Infilled and decorated around textblock by Speyer; cross-legged angel at top, pelicans feeding young at sides and flowers at sides and bottom. Watercolors are red, blue, yellow, green and brown.
Infilled for Johannes, son of Valiendein (Valentine) and Eliesabetha (Elisabetha) Bohmer of Brecknock Township in Lancaster Co., born Dec. 13, 1788.
Georg Friederich Speyer (active 1774-1801) used this printed form produced c. 1789 by Barton & Johnson of Reading. See Notes.
General wear with numerous creases and wrinkles; one pronounced vertical centerline crease. Repaired tears, esp at left edge. All edges are ragged and uneven, esp. at right.
Conserved by CCAHA in 1989 (see report in file). Hinged into window mat & back mat. Relaced in its original frame using UF-3 Plexiglas and acid-free cardboard on reverse with a taped mylar dust shield.
Object ID
G.77.50.1
Notes
Printed form by Reading printers Thomas Barton and Benjamin Johnson, circa 1789 (see Klaus Stopp, The Printed Birth & Baptismal Certificates of the Pa. Germans, v. 4, p. 84). Speyer used this printed form for Johannes Bohmer who was born the previous year in1788.
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Role
Artist
Credit
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Richard Flanders Smith, Heritage Center Collection
