fectly new," it is likely that the items sold at most 

 auctions were used or secondhand. Presumably that 

 was the condition of the "Turkey and Wilton Carpets'' 

 as well as the other '"furniture of the late John 

 Apthorp, Esq.," that was advertised to be sold at 

 auction in the Boston Xews-Letter of May 13, 1773. 

 There need be no doubt, however, about the " Wilton 

 carpet" mentioned in an advertisement in the January 

 27, 1776, issue of the I'irginia Gazette because the head- 

 ing read: "FOR SALE, A GREAT Variety of House- 

 hold Furniture of the \-ery best Kinds, which have 

 been little used." Williamsburg, Philadelphia, and 

 Boston were not the only urban centers where floor 

 coverings could be purchased. at auction. There was 

 a demand for secondhand Wiltons in New York and 

 Baltimore, too. The Maryland Journal and Baltimore 

 Daily Advertiser of June 24, 1777, carried an advertise- 

 ment announcing the sale at "Public Vendue" of 

 household furniture that included "a large elegant 

 Wilton Carpet," and both "Wilton and Scotch car- 

 pets" were listed as items that were to be ofiTered for 

 "Sale by Auction" in New York according to a notice 

 that appeared on April 28, 1781, in the Royal Gazette. 



For the purchase of new ffoor coverings there was 

 the "Furniture Ware-House" on Nassau Street in New 

 York City. The upholsterer-owner, William Mooney, 

 announced by an advertisement in the New-York 

 Journal of October 27, 1785, that he had "Elegant 

 Wilton Carpets and Carpeting" for sale. A notice in 

 the Xew-York Daily Advertiser on January 1, 1791, in- 

 dicated that Mooney's shop on Nassau Street was still 

 supplying New Yorkers with "Elegant Wilton carpets" 

 as well as such other underfoot furnishings as ingrain 

 carpeting and Scotch carpets. And in Philadelphia, 

 Wilton and other types of carpeting also were sold by 

 an upholsterer, C. Alder. He described his selection 

 in the Pennsylvania Packet of October 31, 1796, as "of 

 e.xcellent quality." 



These woven cut-pile carpets, characterized by a 

 fine velvety texture, undoubtedly provided an appro- 

 priate type of floor covering for the fashionably fur- 

 nished rooms found in the houses of some of the 

 wealthier colonists. For example, when Robert 

 Carter mo\ed his family from their plantation, "Nomini 

 Hall," to Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1761, he wrote to 

 his London merchant for numerous items. These in- 

 cluded a large mirror, wallpapers "to hang three 

 parlours" as well as a staircase and two passages, 

 brass sconces, three pairs of yellow silk-and-worsted 

 damask festoon window curtains and the same for the 



seats of 18 chairs, and a Wilton carpet.""' Clearly the 

 house "in the city" was to be elegantly furnished. In 

 Boston, too, Wiltons provided suitable floor coverings 

 in such well-appointed households as that of the mer- 

 chant Mr. Robert Gould. There was a Wilton carpet 

 in the front chamber, three pieces of Wilton in the 

 second chamber, and three strips of Wilton carpet in 

 the front room as well as the other underfoot furnish- 

 ings, including "19 yd. Do. [Wilton] Stair Carpet" 

 listed in the previously cited inventory of his property 

 recorded in 1 777. Another Boston inventory recorded 

 in 1777 indicated that some of the floors in Doctor 

 Joseph Warren's house were similarly covered, for he 

 owned '"two Wilton Carpets." 



Houses carpeted with Wiltons also were to be found 

 elsewhere in New England. In Newburyport, Massa- 

 chusetts, the furnishings of James Prince's handsome 

 brick mansion included two Wilton carpets of 72 

 yards each.*^ Perhaps these are the floor coverings 

 depicted in two of the portraits of this merchant's 

 family painted in 1801 by John Brewster, Jr., James 

 Prince and his son, William (fig. 19) and James Prince, Jr. 

 In both paintings the underfoot decoration has a 

 medium-gray ground ornamented with lighter and 

 darker shades of the same color in what might be a 

 muted floral motif, a splotch pattern or marbelized 

 design. Philadelphia was another urban center 

 where Wilton carpeted floors were the choice of 

 well-to-do and prominent persons. Governor Penn, 

 as an example, had two "beautiful Wilton'' carpets 

 in his Chestnut Street residence. Farther south the 

 taste in furnishings of country gentlemen compared 

 favorably with that of their city cousins. Of his visit 

 to "Sully," Richard Bland Lee's country seat in 

 Virginia, Thomas Lee Shippen, a Philadelphian, 

 wrote to his father on October 24, 1 797, as follows. 



I would fain give you some idea of the elegance in which 

 this kinsman of ours has settled himself to make amends 

 for the caprice of his fellow citizens. The house is new, 

 built by himself about 3 years ago and lately furnished 

 from Philada. with every article of silver plate, mahogany, 

 Wilton carpeting and glass ware that can be conceived 

 of that you will find in the very best furnished houses of 



-* K.\TE M.\so.N Rowland, "Robert Carter of Virginia," 

 .Magazine of .imerican History (September 1893), vol. 30, p. 124. 



89 Nina Fletcher LrrxLE, ".John Brewster, Jr., 1766-1854," 

 Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin (October 1960), vol. 25, 

 p. 100. 



PAPER 59: FLOOR COVERINGS IN 18TH-CENTURY AMERICA 



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