Antique Modernist Art Deco Design Wilton Royal Carpet
Following the closure of the Axminster manufactory in Devonshire in 1835, the demand for carpets in England was supplied by the Wilton Royal Carpet Factory, located in Salisbury. In the early 20th century the Wilton workshops were the first to direct part of their rug weavings towards semi-mechanised looms, such as the first power looms. By 1930 the Wilton Royal Carpet Factory was both fully committed towards towards hand-knotted rugs, as shown by the many examples woven for artists such as Francis Bacon and Marion Dorn, as well as ready to supply the market with a more affordable product that could be easily woven in larger formats.
The pattern here is taken from the Cubist-inspired Art Deco style first developed in Paris by Ivan Da Silva Bruhns, soon becoming iconic of the Modernist geometric style which will characterise European weavings from the late 20’s/early 30s.
This particular example was clearly woven to satisfy the demand for Art Deco design rugs by the British expatriates in India, as it is marked on its reverse by a stamp reading ‘Royal Carpet & Tapestry Emporium – Bombay’.