Description:
Bed rug with two widths of handwoven wool (each 33 1/2"), seamed together in the middle (overcast stitch) to form the ground. The pile is formed by sewing the heavy yarn (6 ply) in a double-stitched pile, stitching under and then back up to the right side, then going back under the original hole, and up again through the second hole. There are two rows of indigo blue and one row of white with an occasional faded gold mixed in with the white (one end has about 12 rows of other colored threads -dark indigo and tan). The rows are very evenly spaced and also the stitches are very regular. The bed rug has been washed carelessly and the yarns are matted and many are untied. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, "rugg" meant a coarse woolen cloth or bed cover; textiles were generally too valuable to be placed on the floor. Bed rugs were primarily made in the Connecticut River Valley and other established New England communities; they were used to provide warmth and decoration in cold New England bedchambers. These rugs, which showed a woman's domestic and artistic abilities, were made of home-produced materials, such as wool gathering, and spinning and dying yarns. Most surviving rugs have surface covering designs and many have a tapestry-like effect. This rug, found in New Hampshire, shows the same technique as discussed by Marshall (see notes) for another bed rug in The New Brunswick Museum in St. John.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+95.041 |
