Moquette carpet

The most famous moquette carpet in America is the one which Louis XVI sent to George Washington. It was made to fit the banquet room at Mount Vernon where it can still be seen today.

It is so well preserved because for many years it was in storage in the possession of a private family, and only in recent years was returned to Mount Vernon.

Though woven in narrow strips on hand looms, the design is not a simple repeat pattern. It has a large central medallion with the American coat of arms show­ing our national eagle with spread wings, and a lovely classic border. The field is soft green, with scattered gold stars. See Plate VI.

The modern power loom for Axminster weaving is an adapta­tion, not of the hand-knotted English Axminster, but of the French moquette carpet loom.

In 1910, the Renard brothers developed a machine to produce carpet with a knotted pile. The fabric woven on this loom is very like handmade carpet except that it is not as tight and firm.

Though it was a great achievement, the process has never been widely used.