Portrait of Nicholas Bovlstgn 



by John Singleton Copley, 1772-73 



{Courtesy of Harvard College and The Fogg Art Museum.) 



Figure 18. — This rich and handsome carpet is a dark 

 blue-green with large designs of leaves and dull 

 red-orange flowers. Copley has depicted this Bos- 

 ton merchant informally attired in elegant fabrics, 

 a blue morning robe or banyan, rose turban, and 

 red morocco slippers. 



Since the carpeting was woven in narrow widths, 

 most Wilton carpets were formed of strips joined to- 

 gether. It was this method of transforming carpeting 

 into carpets that Benjamin Franklin had explained to 

 his wife In a letter from London in 1 758, to be men- 

 tioned shortly. Of the carpeting he was sending, 

 Franklin wrote that it was "to be sow'd together" 

 either as "one large or two small" carpets. 



The "Wilton carpets" offered for sale among other 



London imports in the Boston News-Letter of October 

 13, 1768, were most likely made in this way as pre- 

 sumably were the "three very beautiful rich Wilton 

 carpets, three yards square each," that were adver- 

 tised in the same newspaper on December 21 of the 

 following year. The 3-yard size of the carpets may 

 have been achieved by using strips either a full yard 

 wide or the three-quarters of a yard dimension cited 

 by the Englishman quoted above. There surely were 

 some variations in the size of the strips i^ecause 

 "Wilton Carpeting and carpets of all sizes from 3-2 

 by 4 up to 6-^4 by Iji yds." were advertised for sale 

 in the New-York Gazelle and General Advertiser of May 22, 

 1799. The three -fourths of a yard width, however, 

 was probably the standard one. Both the 6>^4 and 7J{> 

 dimensions of the above Wiltons can be broken down 

 into strips of the suggested regulation size, 9 widths 

 being needed in the one case and 10 in the other. In 

 spite of the fact that the overall dimensions are not 

 given for the "few very handsome Wilton Floor Car- 

 pets; Stair ditto" included in the items for sale "just 

 imported from London," that were mentioned in the 

 Boston News-Letter of May 23, 1771, or the imported 

 "Wilton Carpets" which were "to be sold very cheap, 

 for ready Money" in Williamsburg, according to the 

 Virginia Gazette of October 29, 1772, the floor carpets 

 were very likely seamed. But the stair carpets prob- 

 ably were not, since any width under or slightly over a 

 yard, which was presumably adequate for most stair 

 coverings, could be woven in one piece. Single or 

 unseamed widths of cut-pile floor coverings also could 

 be obtained "in the piece," according to the sale notice 

 of an upholsterer, John Mason, in the Pennsylvania 

 Chronicle of October 28, 1771, which included in a list 

 of imported merchandise "the best Wilton Carpetting, 

 in the piece." Perhaps this was purchased for use in 

 halls, or as foot carpets, or even as an upholstery 

 fabric. That Wilton was, indeed, used for covering 

 furniture as well as floors is revealed by James 

 Beekman's order for goods on December 9, 1 769, ad- 

 dressed to Thomas Harris, London. The New York 

 merchant wrote: "send me as much fine wilton Car- 

 petting as will cover 7 chier Bottems, small figure and 

 bright-colours." '^ 



Although the sale of Mr. Penn's town-house furnish- 

 ings included "2 beautiful Wilton, beside carpets per- 



"■ Letter from James Beekman, New York, to Thomas 

 Harris, London, Dec. 9, 1769. In Beekman Mereantile Papers, 

 op. cit. (footnote 72), vol. 2, p. 807. 



38 



BULLETIN 250: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



