A 'HAMMERSMITH' CARPET

Though Morris & Co. rug designs were influenced by Middle Eastern examples, the present lot illustrates how this was fused with influences closer to home. In 1881, Morris wrote that in his designs he wanted to use ‘the rose, the lily, the tulip, the oak, the vine, and all the herbs and trees that even we cockneys know about’ (S.B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, New York, 1995, p. 295). The directional design of the present lot is typical of the work of Henry Dearle, who took over as Artistic Director of Morris & Co. on the death of its founder in 1896.

In the 1890s Morris & Co. designs enjoyed global popularity. Carpets were commissioned for the Chicago home of John G. Glessner, and four runners were woven for Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s Rhode Island retreat, ‘the Breakers’. This particular rug was one of a set woven for the homes of Robert and Joanna Barr Smith, with this one specifically intended to decorate the morning room of Auchendarroch, their country house in South Australia, and was photographed in situ, circa 1897 (C. Menz, op. cit., Adelaide, 1994 and 2002).