Quilt, Pieced Amish "Diamond in a Square"

Date1920-1940

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Lancaster County

MediumWool and cotton

Dimensions76 1/8" x 75 3/4" (193.4 cm. x 192.4 cm.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1974.609.31

DescriptionSquare bed quilt pieced from twill, plain-woven, and satin-weave woolens of rich royal blue, purple, pink-red and rust-red. The pieced pattern is a center diamond set within a square, with wide outer borders. The quilting pattern, worked with 10 to 12 running stitches per inch using black thread, includes a center star within a feathered medallion, oak leaves, branches of roses, pinwheels (or fylfots) within diamonds, scallops, stars, and undulating feathered vines. Thin cotton batting. Edge binding is machine-stitched to the front and folded over to the back, where it is hand stitched. The backing is brown and red printed cotton in three-leaf clover motif.
Label TextJudging from the number of surviving Center Diamond quilts, this pattern was a favorite, especially in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In fact, few other designs better exemplify Amish style, while also appealing to modern taste. From afar, the dramatic geometric quilt compares favorably to minimalist paintings of the 1960s or 1970s. The spare design was appropriate for a conservative group intent on avoiding showy excesses. The quilting stitches, however, reveal intricate patterning in stark contrast to the simple pieced design. At the center of the large diamond is an eight-pointed star enclosed in a medallion circle of feathers, or plumes. Quilted maple leaves, geometric inner borders enclosing curved four-armed crosses similar to the traditional Pennsylvania German fylfot, realistic roses and tulips, and undulating feather vines extend outward from the center. Amish quilting patterns in many ways resemble the bright appliquéd motifs of their more liberal Pennsylvania German neighbors; Amish women did not avoid decoration altogether, but rather incorporated the decoration in a subtle way that was acceptable to their group.

The quilt was made of twill, sateen, and crepe wools, filled with thin cotton batting, and backed with a small-scale cotton print, all quilted with black cotton. The binding was machine-stitched to the front and whipstitched to the back.

MarkingsNone.
ProvenanceA. David Pottinger, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.