Lot Essay
Constantine, 2nd Baron Mulgrave (1744-1788), had alterations and additions made to Mulgrave Hall by Sir John Soane in 1786. The exterior of the Hall was subsequently remodelled as a gothic castle (circa 1804-11), but the interiors retain their classical details. Unfortunately, while Soane's designs for the exterior and ground plans survive, the interior plans cannot be traced. Two of the rooms at Mulgrave Castle, the Drawing Room and the Library, are both of the correct dimensions for this carpet and have a central roundel in the ceiling which could have been mirrored in the present carpet.
In design, colouring and structure, this carpet is very similar to a carpet commissioned from Thomas Whitty's works at Axminster in 1783 for Brockenhurst Park. Both use the golden earthy brown ground which is then strewn with bold scrolling acanthus arabesques in the antique manner. The present carpet is less typical of Axminster in that the central roundel is so strongly outlined, a facet that recalls designs in other media demonstrating the classical revival of the 1780's. The border motif, while also typical of carpets of the period, was more usually bunched in horizontal swags rather than being left in the continuous garland seen here.
1783 was an epoch making year for Thomas Whitty, since it was the year of the royal visit to the Axminster Carpet Works, (for a full discussion see B. Jacobs: Axminster Carpets (hand-made) 1755-1957, Leigh-on-Sea, 1970). Whitty had started his carpet-weaving business in 1755 and by the end of the decade had established himself as the leading manufacturer of carpets in England, winning a prize offered for carpet weaving by the Society of Arts in 1757 (shared), 1758 and 1759. While these prizes won him a string of commissions, the royal visit was even more productive. George, Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, who was to become the leading arbiter of fashion ordered five carpets for Carlton House Palace. The present carpet was thus woven at the peak of Axminster's fame and prosperity
In design, colouring and structure, this carpet is very similar to a carpet commissioned from Thomas Whitty's works at Axminster in 1783 for Brockenhurst Park. Both use the golden earthy brown ground which is then strewn with bold scrolling acanthus arabesques in the antique manner. The present carpet is less typical of Axminster in that the central roundel is so strongly outlined, a facet that recalls designs in other media demonstrating the classical revival of the 1780's. The border motif, while also typical of carpets of the period, was more usually bunched in horizontal swags rather than being left in the continuous garland seen here.
1783 was an epoch making year for Thomas Whitty, since it was the year of the royal visit to the Axminster Carpet Works, (for a full discussion see B. Jacobs: Axminster Carpets (hand-made) 1755-1957, Leigh-on-Sea, 1970). Whitty had started his carpet-weaving business in 1755 and by the end of the decade had established himself as the leading manufacturer of carpets in England, winning a prize offered for carpet weaving by the Society of Arts in 1757 (shared), 1758 and 1759. While these prizes won him a string of commissions, the royal visit was even more productive. George, Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, who was to become the leading arbiter of fashion ordered five carpets for Carlton House Palace. The present carpet was thus woven at the peak of Axminster's fame and prosperity