Boi- WITH Finch 

 attributed to John Brewster, Jr., about 1800 



[Courtesy nj Abhy Aldriih Rockfjella Folk Ail Collntinn, 

 11 illiamsburg.) 



Figure 12. — The floor area in this portrait is decorated 

 with a diaper design of blue, orange, and yellow on a 

 brown background. 



carpet, or an imitation of one. There can be little 

 doubt, however, that the bold pattern of .stripes and 

 medallions rendered in strong shades of black, red, 

 orange, and white was striking. The alternating 

 wide and narrow stripes on a black background are 

 surrounded by a broad border of the same red circles 

 that are dotted diagonally acro.ss the horizontal 

 red lines of the wide stripes and between the medal- 

 lions. The latter are white, crossed with orange 

 strokes, and enclose red and — in alternate rows- 

 black circular centers. 



A similar floor co\ering with a large-scale pattern 

 of medallion-filled stripes and a vivid color scheme 

 of wliite, red, greenish black, and orange appears 

 in another portrait painted in 1798 by Ralph Earl, 

 Afrs. Xoa/i Smith and Hir Children. It is of course 

 possible that the decorated floors in these or any ot 

 the other pictures illustrated were imaginary creations 

 of the artists rather than actual belongings of the 

 persons portrayed. Certainly, the underfoot fur- 

 nishings depicted in the portraits of Connecticut citi- 

 zens done by Ralph Earl bear a marked resemblance, 

 one to the other, which would seem to suggest a 

 common source. On the one hand, this may have 

 been a local craftsman or floorcloth manufactory or, 

 on the other hand, the portrait painter's imagination. 

 Even allowing for artistic license, however, it seems 

 most likely that the floor coverings which appear in 

 18th-century pictures were based on actual examples 

 which the artist may ha\'e seen under the feet of the 

 people portrayed or in shops or elsewhere. 



While some carpet painters provided imitation 

 carpeting on canvas, others, like the already mentioned 

 [ohn Gore of Boston, preferred to sell the actual 

 carpeting and to continue the manufacture of floor- 

 cloths, presumably of their own design. The two 

 painted carpets owned by John Phillips (fig. 11), 

 that are so carefully delineated in his portrait painted 

 in 1 793 by Joseph Steward, reveal how successful 

 were some of the creations of these 18th-century 

 craftsmen. Floral rather than geometric motifs 

 characterize the allover designs on these two floor- 

 cloths. Flowers — ranging from simple stylized blos- 

 soms of four petals to complex conventionalized roses — 

 have been marshaled into an orderly arrangement of 

 squares. No doubt both, of Mr. Phillips' floorcloths 

 were as practical as they were pleasing because allover 

 repeat patterns, particularly of this scale, tend to 

 camouflage soil and wear. The choice of colors, too, 

 seems to have been utilitarian as well as decorative, 

 for the background is brown and the motifs are olive 

 green, yellow, and russet. Another example of allover 

 repeat patterns based on floral motifs that were either 

 stenciled or painted on floorcloths or floors is shown in 

 the portrait Boy with Finch (fig. 12), painted about 

 1800. Again floral forms have been treated in a two- 

 dimensional and essentially noiirepresentational man- 

 ner, and colors have been used that are both pleasing 

 and practical. Against a brown background, multi- 

 petaled flowers of blue with centers of yellow are 

 enclosed by orange- and yellow-leaf \-ines forming a 

 diamond design. 



20 



BULLETI:t 250 : contributions FRO.M the museum of HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



