Hooked rug with crab motif

2005.138.2025

Hooked rug with crab motif

Rug. Green and beige crab motif. Hooked, wool, sheared on burlap, 29.5" x 64.5". Made on Cranberry Isles 1902-1905. One of two similar rugs from same donor. (See 2005.138.2026 dog-motif rug.) Donor states her sister recovered this rug from the storage shed at their parents' house in New Hampshire after reading the Bangor Daily News article about her earlier donation of the dog-motif rug; and that this rug was repaired in the same manner as that rug, but is in much better condition. This rug lacks the CR monogram that was usually worked into one corner or on the selvage at the back of rugs that were made specifically by the Cranberry Island Club rug makers at the turn of the century. But it likely shares the provenance of the dog-motif rug described by its donor and its connection to Miriam P. Reynolds of Northeast Harbor and her family's New Hampshire connection. From "Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor", #55 (Nov. 1904), pp 1573-1622, the article "The Revival of Handicrafts in America." by Max West, Ph. D. states: Cranberry Islanders ".... were already familiar with the process of hooking rugs; and they were fortunate in having the benefit of the initiative, moral support, and financial backing of Mrs. Seth Low, Miss Miriam P. Reynolds, and one or two other New York women whose summer homes are at Northeast Harbor, as well as in obtaining the aid of capable designers. The industry was started on a small scale in the autumn of 1901, under the supervision of Miss Amy Mali Hicks, a designer identified with the arts and crafts movement in New York City, who designed the patterns and gave instruction in dyeing, etc. ..." (See also "Three Centuries of Hooking, Mount Desert Island Historical Society, 2009, p. 20-21.)

Fabric

29.5" x 64.5"