Quilt, Pieced Amish Nine Patch Variation

Date1875-1910

OriginAmerica, Ohio or Pennsylvania, Somerset County (probably)

MediumCottons

Dimensions83 x 69 inches

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1995.609.4

DescriptionRectangular quilt of pieced cottons in predominating colors of blues, orange, browns, and greens. Center has three lengthwise bands of blocks based on small and larger 9-patch designs, separated by solid blocks and sashing. Inner border of solid green and wider outer border of solid indigo blue. Narrow edging formed by bringing backing to front and machine stitching. Backing was once purple, now faded to beige. Hand-quilted in 7 to 8 running stitches per inch in a pattern of shells, curved lines, straight lines, and fans.
Label TextPieced in a variation of Nine Patch, this quilt uses vibrant contrasting solid colors to enliven the simple building block of three rows of three squares each. The quiltmaker manipulated colors and piece sizes and separated them with bright red sashing and equally bold yellow-gold blocks to create a sparkling, abstract effect. The pieced center is worked with both hand and machine stitches and is contained within a narrow inner border and a wide outer border that is typical of Amish design. The bedcover is quilted with black running stitches in parallel diagonal lines, fans, and scallops, or clamshells. The quilting is not as finely drawn or executed as it is in most Amish examples.

Once in the collection of painter Michael Oruch, the quilt was purchased in Clark, Missouri, an Amish community founded in the 1950s. The apparent early date of the textiles and colors (especially the yellow-orange color sometimes known as “cheddar”) suggests that the quilt was made well before the 1950s, probably in Ohio or Pennsylvania, and brought to Missouri when an Amish family moved west.

A series of backwards and forwards initials worked with quilting stitches into the inner border are not entirely decipherable. The inscription includes block letters with a backwards N and an M, followed by letters that might read Jan or Taw, and script letters that are either OB or GB. Further along in the border is what appears to be the number “10”. Is it possible that this refers to someone with the initials NM who died (obit, or ob) in January of 1910?

MarkingsThe inscription worked in quilting stitches includes block letters with a backwards N and an M, followed by letters that might read Jan or Taw, and script letters that are either OB or GB. Further along in the border is what appears to be the number “10”.

ProvenanceThis quilt was acquired by Michael Oruch in Clark, Missouri. It is this locale that has led Eve Granich to hypothesize an Ohio or Somerset Co., Pa. origin, since Amish in the area of Clark, Missouri, migrated there from Ohio and Somerset Co., Pa.