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Carpets and Their Influence on the Design of Early American Colonial FurnitureHistory of Early American Colonial Furniture

Portion of English Needlework Carpet, Temp. Queen Anne

In the year of the accession of Charles II our own East India Company, though still existing, was in "an unfavourable state," whilst the Dutch Company that year paid a dividend of forty per cent to the proprietors of their stock. However, from that time the positions gradually reversed, and at the beginning of the eighteenth century it may be assumed that Eastern carpets were entirely supplied through our own merchants.

Curious examples remain of Oriental carpets made to order, into which coats-of-arms have been woven; notably, the Indian one presented in 16 3 q. to the Girdlers' Company by Robert Bell, a prominent East Indian merchant, and the specimen at Knole, some twenty years later in date, bearing the Curzon arms. In the very complete inventory of the goods of Cromwell, which were contained in some ninety rooms at Hampton Court, a number of references to carpets is made. Out of twenty-two from Turkey there was only one large square one, the others being strips averaging about nine or ten feet long. There were also seven Persian carpets, some of which appear to have been very large, similar to those recorded about the same date as existing (and which still remain at the neighbouring Ham House, as well as those at Pens hurst. Amongst his possessions were also two needlework carpets and three leather ones, the latter doubtless being coverings for inlaid floors.

It does not appear that any carpets had been woven in England up to this period, but constant references are made to those produced by hand, generally termed " Turkey work," and similar to the material often then employed for covering chairs. Specimens of this work still exist, made as early as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, into which coats-of-arms, dates and ciphers have been introduced. During the reigns of William and Mary and Anne ladies occupied much of their time in working covers for seats and settees, and so great was their industry, and the amount of their spare time, that they were also able to produce large carpets. The illustration on page 199 does not do justice to the rare Queen Anne needlework carpet which it represents; this carpet is used in the " Painted Room " shown on page 133. Another exceptionally fine needlework carpet of the same period, and which is also in the collection at No 31 Old Burlington Street, is shown on page 194.

The Moors and Saracens in Spain are known to have produced carpets in that country from early ages; indeed, Eleanor of Castile is said to have brought to England splendid pieces turned out from the looms of Cordova and Granada. Even today, to a small extent, the industry is still carried on there. Fine examples of Spanish carpets are occasionally met with, and some may have found their way here during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, either as Royal presents or sent by our Ambassadors.

Early American colonial furniture Woven carpets of fine quality are said to have been made in Holland during the seventeenth century, chiefly at Deventer; in which town, until quite recently, the trade still continued.

It is related that the Savonnerie carpet works were started by Persian operatives specially brought to France by Henry IV. Considering how little intercourse there was then between France and the East, it would seem more probable that its original inception was due to weavers from the Netherlands. The production of these carpets was regarded with great pride by successive French monarchs, and everything possible was done to keep their manufac­ture secret; but, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, numerous families of French weavers emigrating to England taught us the trade.

Between 1755 and 1765 Boucher was responsible both for the designs of the tapestry of the Gobelins and of the carpets produced at the Savon­nerie. His theory that weaving should imitate painting was certainly unfor­tunate, so far as it applied to the coverings for floors. Emigration continued under the cruel treatment from which the peasants in France suffered during this period; it was only from England that serious rivalry was feared, and an edict was issued by Marigney to intercept all letters addressed to the servants of the Crown employed at either factory which came from England. Notwithstanding this and other precautions, considerable number of the oppressed workmen, including some of the most capable, succeeded in escaping.

A charter was granted by William III, in 1701, to Wilton to manufacture carpets in the same method as in France, the industry being carried on there by French emigrants; this charter was confirmed or renewed in 1706 and again in 1725 . It has been related (though with what authority the writer cannot discover that two Frenchmen, Dufossy and Jemaule, were smuggled to England in barrels to assist in its superintendence.

It must not be thought that carpets at the middle of the eighteenth cen­tury were universal, even in the greatest houses, to the same extent that we are now accustomed. This is proved from the paintings of Hogarth, always reliable in matters of detail. Even in the dressing and bedrooms of the Earl and Countess in the" Marriage a la Mode" series of pictures, none are shown; whereas, in the apartment newly decorated for the young married couple, in the " Shortly after Marriage " scene, one is illustrated. Another is seen in his later picture, " The Lady's Last Stake."

It was not until the beginning of the last century that stair early American colonial furniture in carpets became universal in English and American mansions.

The revival of pure classic architecture at the beginning of the reign of George II is largely due to Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke; to his friend Richard, Earl of Burlington; and to William Kent. It was the former noble­man of whom Walpole states: "No man had a purer taste.... It was more than taste, it was a passion for the utility and honour of his country," who did so much to encourage the manufacture of the better kinds of carpets. Lord Pembroke interested himself deeply in the manufactory at Wilton which his father, Earl Thomas, had encouraged.

It will be easily realized that the patrons of the school of Palladio of this period required carpets of classic, not Oriental, patterns to suitably complete the decoration of their gorgeous apartments, and it was this class of design (somewhat resembling the style made at the Savonnerie under Louis XIV such as is illustrated on page 200 which was then produced in this country.