Quilt, Appliquéd Tulip Cross Crib

Date1850-1860, possibly 1854

Maker Member of the Richter Family

Possibly by Anna Richter (b. 1814)

OriginAmerica, Indiana, Ripley County, Sunman

MediumPlain and printed cottons with cotton embroidery threads

Dimensions45 1/8" X 35 1/8" (114.6 cm. x 89.2 cm.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1985.609.1

DescriptionThis is a small rectangular quilt or crib quilt in pink, red, and green cottons, appliqued in a centralized floral design on cream-colored cotton ground in a pattern usually known as Tulip Cross or Cock's Comb. In the center is a rosette, from which springs four curving leaves and four bold floral or cocks comb motifs. Six flying birds fill in white space at top and bottom. The eyes of the bird were created by a punched eyelet stitch. The quilt is bound in a red cotton strip and backed with the same plain-woven cotton as is found on the front. It has an overall quilted pattern in 8-11 running stitches per inch of one-inch diamonds.
Label TextThe floral design of this small-size crib quilt is appliquéd in a design usually known as Tulip Cross. The use of crossed flowers with birds is characteristic of Pennsylvania-German quilts, although this example has a family history in Indiana. Members of the German Richter family lived in Indiana during the nineteenth century, likely bringing their country's design traditions with them.
ProvenanceAccording to Don Walters, the dealer who sold the quilt, the quilt can be attributed to Alma Richter. Another quilt in a similar pattern (in a private collection in the 1980s) was also said to be made by Alma Richter in 1854. A search of Ripley County, Indiana, records failed to locate an Alma Richter around that date. However, one Alma Richter, 1898-1984, had a German-born Grandmother who lived with her family in Ripley County, Indiana. The Grandmother Anna Richter was a widow who was born in Germany in 1814 and immigrated to the United States in 1841. Anna Richter may be the real maker of the quilt. It appears that the woman whose estate was sold in 1985, Alma, may have been mistakenly credited with making the quilt. It is unclear where the 1854 date came from.