Carpet
This rectangular pile carpet with a chocolate background, palm fronds, sprigs, and garlands of flowers, as well as, most notably, fans of white peacock feathers in each corner, is a rare survival from the first years of the Axminster carpet manufactory. Woven around 1765, about a decade after the manufactory’s foundation, it is amongst the earliest productions known to survive.
Axminster was amongst the first English manufacturers to produce carpets with a distinctly Western European look, as opposed to those emulating weavings from the Middle East. The present carpet’s design is in keeping with other examples dated around the same time, including the flower bouquet surrounded by palm fronds at the center. The white peacock feathers at each corner set the design apart from more conventional examples. Rhythmically arranged sprigs and garlands of flowers contrast with an orderly outlined Greek key, a design that illustrates the stylistic transition from Rococo to Neo-classicism which took hold of European decorative arts in the 1760s and 1770s.
Thomas Witty (1713–1792) founded the Axminster carpet manufactory in Devon in 1755, capitalizing on his access to British wool. The thread count of his carpets was significantly smaller than that of finer Islamic weavings or French Savonnerie carpets, which accelerated production. Furthermore, it enabled Witty to deliver much larger carpets in a short period of time. Many Axminsters from the 1770s and later are very expansive indeed. The peacock feathers of the present carpet bring to bear particularly well the virtuosity of the weavers working for Witty, who were able to convincingly evoke the outline of the delicate feathers with a relatively small thread count.
Fewer than ten early pre-1770 Axminster carpets are known to survive. These include the carpets in the state bedroom at Blickling in Norfolk; the library at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire; the drawing room at Kedleston in Derbyshire; and another carpet at the Winterthur Museum, Delaware. Several dozen exist that were produced after 1770.
Axminster was amongst the first English manufacturers to produce carpets with a distinctly Western European look, as opposed to those emulating weavings from the Middle East. The present carpet’s design is in keeping with other examples dated around the same time, including the flower bouquet surrounded by palm fronds at the center. The white peacock feathers at each corner set the design apart from more conventional examples. Rhythmically arranged sprigs and garlands of flowers contrast with an orderly outlined Greek key, a design that illustrates the stylistic transition from Rococo to Neo-classicism which took hold of European decorative arts in the 1760s and 1770s.
Thomas Witty (1713–1792) founded the Axminster carpet manufactory in Devon in 1755, capitalizing on his access to British wool. The thread count of his carpets was significantly smaller than that of finer Islamic weavings or French Savonnerie carpets, which accelerated production. Furthermore, it enabled Witty to deliver much larger carpets in a short period of time. Many Axminsters from the 1770s and later are very expansive indeed. The peacock feathers of the present carpet bring to bear particularly well the virtuosity of the weavers working for Witty, who were able to convincingly evoke the outline of the delicate feathers with a relatively small thread count.
Fewer than ten early pre-1770 Axminster carpets are known to survive. These include the carpets in the state bedroom at Blickling in Norfolk; the library at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire; the drawing room at Kedleston in Derbyshire; and another carpet at the Winterthur Museum, Delaware. Several dozen exist that were produced after 1770.
Artwork Details
- Title:Carpet
- Maker:attributed to Thomas Whitty
- Manufactory:Axminster carpet manufactory (British, 1755–1835)
- Date:ca. 1765
- Culture:British, Axminster
- Medium:Wool; knotted pile
- Dimensions:confirmed, irregular rectangle: 17 × 14 ft. 11 3/4 in. (518.2 × 456.6 cm)
- Classification:Textiles-Rugs
- Credit Line:Purchase, F.J. Hakimian Gift, in memory of Joseph Hakimian, and Christian Keesee and Anonymous Gifts, in memory of Irene Roosevelt Aitken, 2025
- Object Number:2025.725
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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probably Axminster carpet manufactory (British, 1755–1835)
ca. 1780–90
After a design by Robert Adam (British, Kirkcaldy, Scotland 1728–1792 London)
Woven 1791, after a design ca. 1770
Savonnerie Manufactory (Manufactory, established 1626; Manufacture Royale, established 1663)
1668–85
Beauvais
ca. 1787–90
John Mayhew (British, 1736–1811)
1769–71
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