Assembly at Wanstead House 

 by William Hogarth, about 1730 

 (Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art, John Howard McFadden Collection.) 



Figure 24. — Tlie elaborate carpet in the foreground of this painting is ornamented with floral 

 garlands on a brown ground with blue accents. 



directly from England; this method was often used 

 by \'irginians. In 1773 the London firm of John 

 Norton and Sons, who had attended to the Hoor- 

 covering needs of Martha Jacquelin, Mann Page, 

 and Thomas Nelson, were called upon to provide 

 carpeting for Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia. 

 The "Invoice of Several things for his Lordship 

 and his familys use" which the Norton merchants 

 received included ''1 piece Carpeting." "" 



'" Letter to Johfi Norton, Esq., London, from James Minzies 

 enclosing a letter from Lord Dunmore, Williamsburg, June 

 12, 1773. In John Norton and Sons. op. cit. (footnote 24), 

 pp. 328 and 330. 



Auctioneers were concerned with the buying and 

 selling of floor coverings, too. Advertisements for 

 public vendues in the Boston Gazette mentioned "a 

 quantity of stout Carpeting both for Floors and Stairs" 

 on December 6, 1762, and "articles of Household 

 Furniture (almost new)" including "Carpets" on 

 November 26, 1764. In the south as in the north, 

 good buys in floor coverings were to be found at the 

 auctions. "Two large new Carpets of the best Kind" 

 were listed with other household and kitchen furniture 

 "To be Sold by Joseph Kidd, Auctioneer ... in the 

 City of Williamsburg," according to the Virginia 

 Gazette of July 25, 1771. In New York, "Sales by 

 Auction" that included "elegant carpets" were 



50 



BULLETIN 2iO: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .\ND TECHNOLOGY 



