The best known and most successful carpet weaving workshops in England were the looms established at Axminster in Devon by Thomas Whitty in 1755. Whitty (1713-1792), an energetic weaver of cloth, recognized the growing demand for carpets among the aristocracy and wealthy merchant classes during the second half of the eighteenth century. Inspired by popular “Turkey Carpets” (a generic term for hand-knotted pile carpets, both from the East and West), self-taught Whitty set out to make hand-knotted seamless carpets on a large upright loom. By creating extremely high-quality carpets at an economically feasible price, Whitty was the first Englishman to successfully exploit the techniques of pile carpet weaving. Axminster carpets were quickly recognized as the best English produced carpets available with Whitty winning the prize offered for carpet weaving by the Society of Arts in 1757, 1758 and 1759. The fame of Axminster carpets was well appreciated as evidenced by a royal visit from George III in 1783, the commissioning of carpets by the Prince of Wales, and commissions from the leading architectural designers of the day such as James Wyatt and Robert Adam.
The name 'Lansdowne' has been ascribed to this pattern strictly as a convenience and is somewhat misleading. A version of this carpet (Bertram Jacobs; Axminster Carpets (Hand-Made) 1755-1957, Leigh-on-Sea, 1970, pl. 53) was placed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the reconstruction of the Dining Room of Lansdowne House, a London house designed by Adam in the early 1760's and demolished in 1929. However, the carpet is not original to Lansdowne House but rather it belonged to the Duke of Ellenborough for his home Southam Delabere.
The present carpet has a tri-partite format with decorative end panels of diamond shapes enclosing and surrounded by floral leafy scrolls that flank the central square field. Two other examples also display a tri-partite format: an example in the Victoria and Albert with similar coloration save for an ivory central rosette and a navy-blue border (Sarah B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1995, pl. 222) and the aforementioned ‘Lansdowne’ carpet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art that has a dark blue ground for the central field. The main border of the ‘Lansdowne’ carpet is now removed but is also dark blue.
The fragmentary ‘Rockbeare carpet’ made for Rockbeare House and still in its possession, displays a variation of the tri-partite format with end panels that are less prominent and with a border that is identical in both color and design to our carpet (Jacobs, op.cit., pl. 55).
Related to the present carpet are examples formerly in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (sold Christie’s, New York, 20 October 2006, lot 670) and another formerly at Boscobel, Garrison-on-Hudson, New York (Sotheby's, London, 5 April 2006, lot 147). Both carpets are of a square format without end panels but with identical central field and border design. Whitty and other contemporary designers frequently reinvented carpet designs using elements from one carpet design in another so it plausible that the design existed originally as both a tri-partite format and a square shape.
By repute, this carpet was originally made for Heveningham Hall, Suffolk for Sir Gerald Vanneck, 2nd Baronet (1742-1791). The interiors were designed by the architect James Wyatt between 1781-1784 before Sir Vanneck’s death. Although the estate remained in the Vanneck family, it is possible that items were sold out of the house after his death. According to family lore, Sir John Rous, later first Earl of Stradbroke, acquired the carpet for the nearby reconstructed Henham Hall which was built between 1793 and 1797, a few years after Sir Vanneck’s death. This version of the house was demolished in 1953 by the fourth Earl of Stradbroke and later the contents were sold in a sale at Prudential in 1988.
Although there is no documentation of who originally designed this carpet and other similar versions, it is plausible that James Wyatt (1746-1813) is the designer. In the catalogue of the 1988 Prudential Sale of Old Henham Hall, the carpet is listed as designed by James Wyatt for the Great Library at Heveningham Hall, Suffolk but without supporting documentation. Designs by James Wyatt are rare but the overall pattern and decorative elements resemble his drawing for a carpet for Belton House, Lincolnshire, circa 1776 (Sherrill, op. cit., p. 205, pl. 223). Although Adam has been suggested in the past as the originator of this design, it is equally possible that Wyatt was indeed the designer. However, Whitty and other designers had no qualms about copying and using similar designs for various commissions so there may never be a definitive answer.
This Axminster is an extraordinary testament to the luxuriousness and sophisticated design and quality of the late eighteenth century decorative arts. It retains original vivid color and condition along with an elegant neo-classical design skillfully executed; factors that have continued to make Axminster carpets as fashionable and desirable as they were when first created in the eighteenth century.