Hearth rug, The Pelican, c. 1900 (designed 1899) Designed by Mary Seton Watts (British, 1849-1938) Made by Alexander Morton & Co., Killibegs, Donegal, Ireland Wool 102 5/8 x 46 1/8" TD1989.49.2 Mary Seton Watts led efforts to create employment for impoverished people through the preservation of rural handicrafts. She also championed the revival of the Celtic style, the indigenous artistic expression of Scotland and Ireland. In 1899, she was asked to design rugs in this style for the carpet company Alexander Morton. In cooperation with the Congested Districts Board, Morton had established a workshop in Donegal, Ireland, to employ local women, who had very little opportunity of earning a livelihood. Watts's first effort for Morton was this Pelican hearth rug, shown in the 1903 London exhibition "Founding a National Industry - Irish Carpets." She explained the complicated symbolism of the rug in a lengthy letter to the Donegal weavers. Watts considered the hearth as the center of the home and had elaborate associations for the symbols of the heart and the cross. She described the image of the pelican found in each of the four corners as a bird that supposedly drew "blood from her own breast to feed her young… a sign of the love which will give its own heart's blood to help those who suffer or are in need." Back to British Aesthetic & Arts and Crafts Movement Main Back to Collections Main