Object Number 1969.1950

Object Name

Rug (Hooked rug)

Category

Textiles (Floorcovering)

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Edward S. Frost (Designer)
1843-1894
Edward Sands Frost of Biddeford, Maine, was the most important name connected with rug hooking patterns. He was a Maine peddler who, while watching his wife hook a rug, decided he could draw a better design. Others saw his work, and ordered his drawn designs. In 1870 he initiated the idea of using stencils to duplicate and color his patterns. He made more than 200 designs. By 1876 he had made so much money he retired to California and sold all his stencils to a firm which retained his name but added "& Co." Many of his original tin and copper stencils are now owned by the Henry Ford Museum.

E. S. Frost & Co. (Manufacturer of original design)
1876
Edward Sands Frost of Biddeford, Maine, was the most important name connected with rug hooking patterns. He was a Maine peddler who, while watching his wife hook a rug, decided he could draw a better design. Others saw his work, and ordered his drawn designs. In 1870 he initiated the idea of using stencils to duplicate and color his patterns. He made more than 200 designs. By 1876 he had made so much money he retired to California and sold all his stencils to a firm which retained his name but added "& Co." Many of his original tin and copper stencils are now owned by the Henry Ford Museum.

Place of Origin

New England, United States, North America

Origin Notes

Probable origin.

Secondary Place of Origin

Biddeford, Maine, United States, North America

Secondary Origin Notes

Origin of pattern maker.

Date

1870-1920

Materials

Wool; Burlap

Techniques

Woven (plain), Stenciled, Hooked

Dimensions (inches)

69.25 (L) , 35.875 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

175.895 (L) , 91.123 (W)

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Ames, Kenneth L. 1977 Beyond Necessity: Art in the Folk Tradition.
• Published on p. 108, cat. no. 22.