The Floorcloth and Other Floor Coverings in the London Domestic Interior 1700–1800
V&A/RCA History of Design Department
This paper examines the arrival and spread of floor coverings in the London domestic interior amongst the emerging middle classes in the course of the eighteenth century. New evidence in the form of a quantitative survey using probate inventories places emphasis on change in consumption patterns as it pinpoints the beginning, middle and end of the eighteenth century. The survey investigates to what extent floor coverings formed part of the new luxuries and novelties which gradually became adopted in the eighteenth-century household; it attempts to find out whether the spread of floor coverings was related to social class and it places emphasis on the context of the domestic interior and the developing conventions of the use of domestic space. The main focus of the survey is the floorcloth, the painted canvas floor covering which enjoyed tremendous popularity not only in England but also in the New World from about 1720 onwards.
Key Words: consumption • display • domestic space • eighteenth century • inventories • London