Antique Axminster Carpet
Following the closure of the Axminster manufactory in Devonshire in 1835, the demand for floral carpets made in the Rococo Revival style was supplied by the Wilton Royal Carpet Factory, located in Salisbury, although the term ‘Axminster’ was still employed for the finest quality pieces, particularly for those woven from 1860 onwards, when Alfred Lapworth bought the factory from the Blackmore family (see S.B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America (New York, 1995): 231-232). While the design borrows considerably from the French Savonnerie repertoire, the tone-on-tone employed for the background as well as the Meander outer border are characteristic of the early Arts & Crafts and Liberty styles which were prevalent in England towards the beginning of the 20th century, yet substantially different from the Irish Donegal carpets of the same period.