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Lot Essay
The invention in 1886 of the mechanical "punch hook" by Ebenezer Ross of Toledo, Ohio, simultaneously made the production of hooked rugs easier for late 19th century women, while at the same time standardizing what had previously been a highly individual textile art. Capitalizing on his invention, Ross published in 1891 a mail-order catalogue of rug patterns that could be made with his new tool that was intended both to increase the sales of his punch hook and provide an additional source of revenue in pattern sales.
While many of the patterns included in Ross' publication were derived from previous similar catalogues, two were not and are Ross originals. These include a pattern called "Mastiff Dog" and the pattern, "Lion and Palm," an example of which is illustrated here. Later mail-orders companies such as Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck, as well as individual entrepreneurs like Ross, produced copies of Ross' Lion and Palm' design. See Kopp and Kopp, American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: Folk Art Underfoot (New York: 1985), pp. 80-81, fig. 118, 121-123.
While many of the patterns included in Ross' publication were derived from previous similar catalogues, two were not and are Ross originals. These include a pattern called "Mastiff Dog" and the pattern, "Lion and Palm," an example of which is illustrated here. Later mail-orders companies such as Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck, as well as individual entrepreneurs like Ross, produced copies of Ross' Lion and Palm' design. See Kopp and Kopp, American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: Folk Art Underfoot (New York: 1985), pp. 80-81, fig. 118, 121-123.