THE AMERICAN ART OF PAISLEY

From Textiles in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Lift-out from the American rug.

In early-19th-century American textiles, an occasional paisley shows itself as sort of a streamlined reference to the fine, complicated work that was done in India and Persia, Europe and Russia.  One of these exceptions is an embroidered carpet of wool by Zeruah Higley Guernsey Caswell, (1805-1895?). Castleton, Vermont, 1835. 

Known as the Caswell carpet, it is said to be made of wool Zeruah sheared from her father's sheep, then spun, dyed and wove this spectacular rug into its fabric base. Each square was embroidered with a chain stitch. Eleven years after the work's completion, the artist married Mr. Caswell.  The carpet spent many years in the family's best parlor. The piece at lower left is a rectangle designed to be lifted out and laid over the parlor's empty hearth. 

In the lift-out photo, the man seems to be leading the woman into the next frame ― a fantasy forest.  Over their heads, three paisley motifs join to look almost like the focal point at the front of a church. JP