ENGLAND, LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The Moorfields carpet factory, founded by Thomas Moore in London in the 1750s, was one of the leading English carpet manufactories of the second half of the 18th century. Along with Claude Passavant at Exeter, Moore employed weavers that had absconded from the Savonnerie and Gobelins factories in France. This allowed the English firms to replicate the structure and patterns of the established French carpet industries whilst developing their own distinct style and designs. Thomas Whitty was the one only of the leading companies not to employ French weavers and this is evident from the back of his carpets where one does not find coloured dizaine warps typical of French manufacture. Both Moorfields and Axminster were commissioned by the renowned architect Robert Adam to create carpets that would reflect the architectural motifs he was designing for some of his most important projects.