ART DECO
WILTON 'WESSEX' PERIOD RUG, CIRCA 1935
£1,063
Auction: 16 November 2011 at 11:00 GMT
Description
hand knotted in an abstract design on a buff ground
Dimensions
165cm x 91cm
Footnote
Note: This rug was likely commissioned via Wilton's London office premises at 3, Paternoster Square, typically using a gouache cartoon. Original rugs were probably woven in one of Wilton's satellite workshops in the Salisbury area separate from the main mill which housed Wilton's core centre for larger furnishing carpets. Wilton's former patron The Earl of Pembroke was located at nearby Wilton House.
Artists such as Edward McKnight Kauffer, Marion Dorn and Francis Bacon used the closely controlled ' Wessex ' range to have one off rugs made up individually from at least 1929 until 1935.
The Royal Wilton Carpet Co remained the last major maker of handmade carpets in England and the company stopped making hand-knotted rugs altogether following its last commission at Guildford Cathedral circa 1960.
Literature: Rogers, Clive & Noronha, Jean Manuel., 'The Rugs of the Young Francis Bacon ' , Hali magazine Winter 2009 issue no 162