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While the very idea of woven decorative floor covering is virtually synonymous with the Oriental carpet, rugs have also been produced in Europe and the Americas for centuries. The foremost productions of this kind in Europe were the Aubusson tapestry rugs and the pile carpets of the Savonnerie manufactury of the eighteenth century, which virtually eclipsed the European taste for Oriental rugs until the 1880’s. For most of the twentieth century, however, circumstances were once again reversed. Aubusson and Savonnerie carpets, and their English cousins, the Axminsters, lived in the shadow Oriental carpets, although they continued to maintain a certain market niche. Aubussons became the quintessential symbol of traditional European décor. For those who still enjoyed the great period styles of Louis XV or Louis XVI, or their neo-classical successors, First and Second Empire, and English Chippendale, nothing could pull a room together more effectively than an Aubusson or a Savonneriet. Consequently, Aubusson, Savonnerie, and Axminster carpets tend to be associated with old fashioned, conservative taste.

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