Charles Francis Annesley Voysey

Michael Jeffery, Arts and Crafts Style, New York, 2001, p. 125 (for a related example)

The “Donnemara” rug was designed by influential Arts and Crafts applied artist Charles Francis Annesley Voysey around 1900. Already well known for his furniture, textile and wallpaper design, Voysey was contracted by Alexander Morton and Co. in 1897 to design interior fabrics and carpets. Voysey employed his personal definitive style for the company, an artistic vision where bold shapes repeat to create rhythmic patterns while rich, dark and pale colors contrast. The “Donnemara” pattern was very popular and was woven in several colorways and sizes. The present example is very large and exhibits a gorgeous blue and green floral pattern of tulips and half blown roses over a deep blue ground.

Morton & Co. was founded by Alexander Morton as a textiles firm, first operating as a single handloom production in 1860. By 1875 the company was operating a mechanical lace machine and by 1886 had forty machines. Influenced by the burgeoning arts and crafts movement and William Morris, Morton & Co. diversified into hand knotted carpets. Prior to establishing the famed textile company Donegal Carpets in 1898, the first carpets were woven in a hayloft in the town of Killybegs, Ireland. Soon after the turn of the century, Donegal Carpets was receiving great acclaim and had become known as the preeminent wool carpet manufacturer, producing large and beautiful carpets sought after around the world. This was no doubt in correlation with the fine patterns supplied to the manufacturer by Voysey.

Replete with excellent craftsmanship, comprising the highest quality wool and indicative of the fine aesthetics of Voysey, the present rug is a tribute to the arts and crafts movement and the storied history of wool rug making in the Donegal region of Ireland.