Early 20th Century Hooked Rug - 1'8 x 4'4

A wonderfully charming American folk-art hooked rug depicting a horse, house, tree, and seated cat across a long, narrow landscape. Its appeal lies in the wonderfully intuitive drawing and deliberately unconcerned sense of scale: the horse nearly rivals the house, while the cat sits monumentally beside a tree scarcely larger than itself.

That disregard for conventional perspective gives the rug much of its folk-art character. The scene feels less like a literal landscape than a collection of familiar forms arranged according to memory, importance, and visual balance.

Worked from narrow strips of recycled fabric, the surface has a richly irregular, pebbled texture, while the faded palette of powder blue, sage, cream, dusty rose, black, and soft red has mellowed beautifully with age. The long format gives the whole composition the feeling of a naive narrative frieze, full of personality and wonderfully offbeat proportion.

Size: 1'8" x 4'4" [51cm x 132cm]

Age: Q1 20th Century (1900-1925)

Origin: NE USA 

Type of Rug: Hooked 

Material: Shirred fabric on burlap

Pile Height: Medium

Condition: Very good; professionally backed

BK2932

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