but, as the designs of clouble-\vo\'en coverlets indicate, 

 fairly complex patterns could be made and undoubt- 

 edly were. Possibly the floor covering seen in the 

 portrait Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge and his son, William 

 (fig. 16), done by Ralph Earl in 1790, is, if not a 

 painted floor or floorcloth, an ingrain carpet. This 

 room of the Tallmadge residence in Litchfield, 

 Connecticut, also was the setting for the companion 

 portrait Mrs. Tallmadge with her son, Henry, and daughter, 

 Maria because the same floor covering is depicted 

 with the geometric patterns and cruciform ornan^ients 

 that resemble the turreted diamond-shaped motifs 

 seen in central-Asian rugs. Ingrain could also be 

 obtained with floral patterns. George Washington, 

 in letters to be quoted shortly, mentioned both Scotch 

 and Wilton in reference to the flowered carpet he 

 wanted for the blue room at Mount \'ernon. And 

 "marble" carpeting was advertised for sale in as- 

 sociation with English and Scotch ingrain in the 

 New-York Gazette and General Advertiser of May 22, 1 799. 



The width of ingrain carpeting was of course fixed 

 by the loom which in the 18th century was usually 

 of a size that produced 36-inch fabrics. This was a 

 width that could be comfortably worked by a single 

 weaver. Although carpeting was woven wider and 

 narrower than a yard, it is believed that the standard 

 width of the pileless, two-ply carpeting was 36 inches. 

 Most Scotch carpets of even medium size were there- 

 fore niade of a number of pieces sewed together, and 

 those described as "large" were, of course, seamed 

 too. Consequently, the full size of such carpets was 

 most likely based on either multiples of a single width 

 of carpeting or a combination of different widths. 

 In most cases, however, the single pieces would have 

 been the regulation width of a yard. Both of the 

 carpets ordered by Robert Carter would have been 

 made in this way. Perhaps the dimensions were 

 determined on the basis of the 36-inch module system 

 as well as by the size of the rooms in which they were 

 to be used because both carpets can be translated 

 into even yardage. The one 15 feet square could 

 have been made up of five yard-wide pieces and the 

 other, 1 8 by 20 feet, of six pieces. 



The dimensions of the carpets ordered by Carter 

 in 1772 provide an idea of what the size may have 

 been of the "very large and handsome Carpets" 

 that were advertised for sale at public vendue in the 

 Boston News-Letter of January 13, 1762. Or the 

 measurements of the "very large and handsome Car- 

 pets" may have been closer to 11)^ by 18J4 feet because 

 a Turkey carpet of this size was described as "very 



Colonel Be.njamin Tallm.^dge and his son, \Villl\m 



by Ralph Earl, 1790 



{Courtesy of Litchfield Historical Society.) 



Figure 16. — The patterned floor covering of this room 

 extends to the walls where it is edged with a 

 harmonious border. This distinguished citizen of 

 Connecticut, a Member of Congress from 1801 to 

 181 7, and president of a bank in Litchfield, is 

 depicted in a domestic setting with books, fringe- 

 decorated chair and table cover, and vivid -figured 

 floor covering. 



large." This description was not used in the adver- 

 tisement that appeared in the Boston News-Letter 

 on July 11, 1771, for the sale of "a Carpet 14 Feet by 

 12, more Elegant than any which have been imported 

 into this Province," although it nfight have been 

 because the size of this carpet was in the category of 

 very large. Another notice of the same year appearing 

 in the I'irginia Gazette on May 9, mentioned a carpet 

 of "about eleven Feet by ten." This size might be 

 considered large rather than very large. The adjec- 

 tive "large" was used for a carpet measuring 9 feet 



34 



BULLETIN 2 50 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



