After a design by C.F.A. Voysey, Alexander Morton and Co., Donegal, Ireland

Charles Francis Annesley Voysey  (1857 - 1941) designed carpets for Tomkinson and Adam of Kidderminster, James Templeton and Co. in Glasgow and Alexander Morton and Co., who had factories in Ayrshire and County Donegal, Ireland, and for whom he also designed textiles. In 1897, Voysey signed a five-year contract with James Morton (1867 – 1943), who was keenly interested in good contemporary design and then head of Alexander Morton and Co., for ten textile designs a year.  “The Rose” was designed by Voysey in 1899; see Caw, J.L., “The Mortons of Darvel”, Art Journal, March 1900, p.80, in which it is illustrated.  Versions of “The Rose” in different colour-ways were produced, see Haslam, M., Arts and Craft Carpets, London, 1991, Fig.59, p.94 & Fig.71, p.110, but the subtle colouring of the lot offered here is particularly appealing today.