Family at Tea 



Dutch, mid- 1 8th century 



{Courtesy of Colonial ]Villiamsburg.) 



Figure 25. — The two floor coverings in this watercolor are a very large Oriental carpet and, on 

 top of it, a small striped carpet with fringed ends. For this family scene, the chairs have 

 been moved from their usual location against the wall to in front of the fireplace where a 

 table with the tea equipage has been placed. 



immediately prior to it. Bedside carpets may even 

 have been made of straw; but whatever the material, 

 they served a useful purpose in 18th-century American 

 houses where, as Moreau de Saint Mery reported, 

 "rooms are drafty." 



Hearths were seldom associated with floor coverings 

 in this country during the 18th century. According 

 to the sources studied, fireplace or hearthrugs seem 

 not to have appeared on the American market much 

 before 1799. In that year "an assortment of hearth 

 Rugs" was offered for sale by Andrew S. Norwood, 

 according to an advertisement in the New-York 

 Gazette and General Advertiser of May 22. Further 



evidence associating hearthrugs with the 19th century 

 is provided by Jefferson's inventory of the Presidential 

 Mansion taken in 1809. In the President's sitting 

 room there was "1 elegant Brussels carpet and a 

 fire rug." This type of underfoot furnishing ap- 

 parently was used in Europe in the 18th century 

 because what seems to be a hearthrug appears in 

 a Dutch watercolor of the mid- 18th century (fig. 25). 

 A small, horizontally striped carpet, possibly of list, 

 though more likely woven of wool, is shown placed in 

 front of the fireplace and on top of a room-size 

 Oriental. Here the family gathered for tea, and to 

 have their portrait painted. The facts that the fire- 



PAPER 5 9 : FLOOR COVERINGS IN 1 8TH-CENTURY AMERICA 



53 



