premiums were shared both years. The moderate 

 prices, as well as the quality of Whitty's carpets, in 

 contrast to those asked by his competitors, once again 

 made him a winner in 1 759, the last year premiums 

 were offered.'"^ No doubt this acknowledgment of 

 his work coupled with the reasonable prices of his 

 products accounted for the success of the Axminster 

 enterprise, which was run by the family until 1835 

 when the firm was dissolved. The success of the 

 workshop can also be measured by the fact that the 

 name Axminster came to be synonymous with knotted- 

 pile carpets wherever manufactured. Although the 

 name is still used today, Axminsters are no longer 

 hand-knotted carpets, but rather a machine-made 

 complex fabric resembling them. The structure of 

 various other types of floor coverings also was changed 

 by power weaving in the 19th century. It is well to 

 remember, therefore, that present-day carpets with 

 the same name as those described in this study and 

 with a similar appearance might be quite different in 

 construction. 



Whatever their place of manufacture may have 

 been, the carpets described as Axminster in the adver- 

 tisement for a sale of "elegant and valuable house- 

 hold furniture" that appeared in the New-York 

 Gazette and the Weekly Mercury of June 29, 1772, would 

 have had a knotted-pile surface. The identical 

 construction also would have characterized the 

 "elegant Axminster carpet" listed in a public-auction 

 sale notice in the same newspaper on October 6, 

 1777, as well as the "1 elegant Axminster carpet" 

 belonging to Governor Penn that was offered for sale 

 with his other Philadelphia-household goods in 1788. 

 That these or any other carpets of the same name 

 owned by Americans may have been made at Axmin- 

 ster in Whitty's workshop is of course possible, 

 especially in view of the fact that at least one "name" 

 carpet, an example of Thomas Moore's weaving, is 

 known to have been used in this country. Describing 

 Mr. Bingham's residence where he was invited to 

 dinner during his Philadelphia visit in 1794, the 

 Englishman Henry Wansey wrote: "I found a mag- 

 nificent house and gardens in the best English style, 

 with elegant and even superb furniture. The chairs of 

 the drawing room were from Seddons's in London, 

 of the newest taste; the back in the form of a lyre, 

 with festoons of crimson and yellow silk. The curtains 



of the room a festoon of the same. The carpet one 

 of Moore's most expensive patterns." '' 



Extant examples of Moore's as well as Whitty's 

 and Passavant's work reflect the fashion at the time 

 for floral and Greco-Roman motifs. In addition, 

 these firms made carpets that resembled Oriental 

 rugs not only in their construction but also in their 

 appearance. In 1768 during a visit to the carpet 

 manufactory at Moorfields, Lady Mary Coke reported 

 that besides the "several diflferent kinds" of carpets 

 made by Thomas Moore, presumably of his own 

 design, "there are other kinds that are made like 

 the persian, look quite as well." ""^ At Axminster a 

 similar situation was observed by Samuel Curwen in 

 1777 when he visited Thomas Whitty's manufactory. 

 "Here is also wrought, besides his own, of a peculiar 

 construction, Turkey carpet, so very like in figure, 

 color, and thickness, as not to be distinguished from 

 the genuine article." '"' Clearly, Oriental carpets, 

 no matter where they were made, in the 18th century 

 were just as much a part of the current fashion picture 

 in underfoot furnishings as were the newest creations 

 of the day. 



Fine carpets, no less than the other elegant furnish- 

 ings made for the house, mirror the general stylistic 

 trends of the 18th century. For example, the patterns 

 of Passavant's signed and dated carpets of the late 

 1 750's, though elaborate and somewhat heavy, are 

 made up of scrolls, shells, foliated motifs, and flowers 

 associated with rococo style. Carpets of a later date 

 attributed to Axminster have delicate medallions, 

 ribbons, and floral bouquets, baskets, and garlands ar- 

 ranged in restrained designs that show the influence of 

 the Greco-Roman taste. The quintessence of the neo- 

 classic style, however, is seen in carpets made by 

 Thomas Moore. He is usually associated with this 

 style because of his collaboration with the famous 

 English architect-decorator, Robert Adam, whose de- 

 signs of precisely arranged circular and octagonal 

 paterae, bellflower swags and wreaths, with anthe- 



9« Tattersall, op. cit. (footnote 93), pp. 62-C3. 



99 Henry Wansev, The Journal of an Excursion lo Ike United 

 Stales of North America, in the Summer of 17Q4 (Salisbury, England : 

 J. Easton, 1796), p. 136. 



""' Lady Mary Coke, quoted in Tattersall, op. cit. 

 (footnote 93), p. 64. 



"" The Journal and Letleis of Samuel Curwen, loc. cit. (footnote 

 95). 



42 



BULLETIN 250 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECFINOLOGY 



