The Winton Castle ‘Elephant’s Foot’ Carpet
The unusual story of a great Scottish carpet.
A massive hand woven Indian carpet from Winton Castle, East Lothian, Scotland has been entrusted to The Nomads Tent to find a new home. The carpet lay on the floor of the grand drawing room at Winton House since the mid 19th century and how it came to be and nearly didn't make it from India where it was woven is an interesting story. 
Winton Castle, East Lothian. Originally built by the Seton family in 1480, damaged in 1544 and rebuilt around 1620, when its renowned plaster ceilings were created. Further additions were added between 1797 and 1805, after it had been bought by the Hamilton Nisbet family in 1779. (photo by kind permission of Francis and Dorothy Ogilvie).
Origins
According to family records, the carpet was ordered by Lady Ruthven in 1847. Just a few years later there was a surge in trade of carpets from India for Western use, spurred on by the East India Company, which lasted to around 1900. Lady Ruthven was well ahead of that trend which saw many thousands of carpets woven in India and imported for various grand houses and palaces. The rare, perhaps unique design bears little resemblance to the Persian influence of so many Indian carpets made during and after the Mughal era. It may have been proposed by a European designer, or by Lady Ruthven or her agents.
The term ‘elephant’s foot’ came into common use around the early 20th century, not from weavers but from Western traders. It was a common name for Turcoman and related carpet designs with a repeating stylised motif known as a ‘gul’ (rose or flower).
The Winton Castle ‘Elephant’s Foot’ Carpet, 1210 x 580 cm (39’ 8” x 19’). In 1804 Winton Castle was inherited by Lady Ruthven (1781-1885) and it was she who commissioned the creation of this impressive carpet, to be produced in India for the Drawing Room.
The carpet was most likely woven over several years, one metre of length of such a weave requiring approximately one to two months and there would be long periods when heat and humidity interrupted work. There would have been several weavers working abreast on a huge loom. After weaving it would have to be cut down from the loom and then worked on intensively to remove unevenness and straighten the sides and ends. Finally, the all-important washing which served to condition the wool and ensure an even lustrous surface finish.
Carpet Loom and weavers with naqshe khani, at Munsur, Mysore. 1850 (image from British Library).
Notice the man sitting front right and holding a text. One method of communicating the required pattern to weavers was according to instructions from a ‘nakshe’ or graph type of knot guide. But some weavers depended a Naqshe Khani, a kind of oral conductor. This was a way of directing carpet weavers to place the correct colour, and the correct number of knots, line by line, entirely by singing.
It has been suggested that the Winton Castle carpet is from Agra. But the term ‘Agra carpet’ may have been applied to many carpets which in fact came from further afield. It is possibly from Machilipatnam (Masulipatnam or Masula) a coastal port in N.E. India, an area less well known than Agra but the source of many carpets during the second half of the 19th Century. The colours of the Winton Castle carpet are typical of Indian carpets of the period, the all over ground soft green, the deep red (referred in the carpet trade as Agra Red) and beautiful soft yellow/gold.
Where the carpet was woven and where its design came from is unclear. But it is sometimes interesting to speculate on similarities with other carpets and other decorative traditions. We may not draw proven conclusions from this but we will get closer to knowing the character and the facts of the carpet. The first such influence to consider is the ceiling of the drawing room for which the carpet was made. The Scottish architect Robert Adam practised exactly this method of commissioning carpets modelled on the elaborate ceilings of some of his houses, such as in Harewood House. In the case of the Winton carpet we could imagine that Lady Ruthven or her architects or other advisers requested that the carpet in some way reflect the spectacular ceiling in the room. If so, the result is connected only very loosely.
The spectacular plaster ceiling made around 1620 for the Drawing Room at Winton.
As the carpet was to be woven in India, the pattern may have been a blending of the above mentioned ceiling with Indian ‘jali work’, a visual art form found in India from around the 14th century and often represented in stone and wooden screens, in textiles, carpets and dhurries, and in floor tiles. In the debate about origin which I encouraged in an online forum for the cognoscenti of the antique carpet world, Dennis Dodds, (collector and writer on carpets), commented: "Jali are Indian screens usually carved in elaborate geometric patterns from sandstone and inserted into walls for ventilation and light. They were popular in Mughal palaces though used in later building design. This [Winton Castle] carpet pattern displays a large lattice which would be seen in a smaller scale in that context. Similar patterns were sometimes also used in floor tiles, not unlike the one shown in this carpet".
Very fine jali stone work. Bibi-Ka-Maqbara. (This file is licensed under the Creative Commons).
A carpet from Masulipatam c 1850 (From Metropolitan carpets).
Detail of Winton Castle carpet main pattern.
Unexpected delays.
Although ordered in 1947, the carpet didn't arrive in Scotland for eleven years, far longer than the weaving would have taken. It isn't known exactly when weaving started or ended but circumstances may have delayed its movement, especially the Indian mutiny of 1857/8 when all trace of the carpet was lost. Lady Ruthven and her husband sallied forth to India to find out what was going on. The carpet was found and arrived at Winton Castle shortly after. Although a major expense, the carpet must have been one of many substantial outlays Lady Ruthven was committed to. However, making the very arduous trip from East Lothian to East India in the 1850s perhaps suggests the carpet held a particularly important place in her heart.
Finding a new home for the Winton Carpet in 2026
From the mid 1850s the carpet has remained on the floor of Winton Castle. After 170 years of use, it was decided the frequent large events and very heavy footfall are not appropriate for such a historic carpet. It is now being offered for sale by The Nomads Tent, on behalf of the owners. Because of its great size, viewing may be arranged by appointment only. All details are listed on our website here.
