Dear Helaine and Joe: I have a wool picture that is 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide, with only a tiny hole near the dog's nose. What is its value?
- S. E.
(Photo courtesy Treasures in Your Attic)
Dear S.E.: At first glance, this piece may look like a picture or a tapestry, but in reality, it is a hooked rug.
Today, a rug goes on the floor, but when the term "rugg" was first used in America in the 18th century, it referred to a textile that was put on the bed to provide warmth. This word is probably derived from a Swedish term that means "rough," and rugs did not move from the bed to the floor until the 19th century.
Prior to that time, if a household possessed a carpet it was used to decorate the top of a table or a cupboard because it was far too precious to be placed underfoot. Fabrics of any kind were scarce in the early days of our country and it was the responsibility of the homemaker to make the most of the textiles used by her family.
It was all the average woman could do to clothe her family and provide bed coverings to keep them warm in the winter. She had to spin the thread, dye it, weave it and then sew it into final form. Since this was such a laborious process, every cloth item was recycled until it could be recycled no more.
It is thought that hooked rugs began when small, otherwise useless scraps of cloth were taken and "hooked" into a backing, using a tool derived from a sailor's rope-making spike. "Waste not, want not" was not just a motto in those days, it was a way of life and a means of survival.
Early backings for these rugs were linen or hemp, but around 1865 burlap was introduced from India, and its loose weave made it the ideal backing material. Great creativity was used to make some of the early patterns, and images of rural and village scenes, farm animals and people are prized by collectors.
In the 1860s, Edward Sands Frost took an interest in his wife's rug hooking and created hand-colored patterns, or stencils, on burlap which he sold door-to-door. By the latter part of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, designs became more standardized and commercially available, with popular patterns including depictions of stags, horses, cats and kittens, colonial scenes, eagles and other patriotic motifs.
After the 1920s, designs tended to be woven tightly and symmetrically with an animal (such as the dog seen in S. E.'s example) placed in the center. Colors on these later examples became less muted and the bold turquoise and red seen on the piece in today's question is indicative of this period.
S. E.'s hooked rug was probably made in the mid- to late 1930s, and its vibrant colors and the droll charm of the dog's face make it very appealing. Even with the hole, which can be easily repaired, its insurance value is between $750 and $850.
(Helaine Fendelman is feature editor at Country Living magazine and Joe Rosson writes about antiques at The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee. Questions can be mailed to them at PO Box 12208, Knoxville, TN 37912-0208.)
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