Lot Essay
Ingrain carpets, such as the present lot, were widely used by prosperous Americans throughout the 19th century as floor coverings and rarely come onto the auction market. These are always flat weaves and are usually two-ply, meaning that there are two sets of wefts in different colors that produce the design and the colors are therefore reversed on either side. (Please see Sherrill,Sarah, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1996, pp.246-252 for more information).