Congress Hall Great Seal Rug

Reconstruction of a carpet which once existed in the Senate chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia when the United States Congress was there in the 1790s. It shows the Great Seal of the United States surrounded by the shields of the 13 states at the time. It was an Axminster carpet made by local carpetmaker William Sprague in 1790/91. The original rug has long been lost; the reproduction was made based on a couple of contemporary written accounts and therefore the exact design is speculative. It was made as part of the restoration of Congress Hall by the National Park Service, mostly done for the 1776 bicentennial celebrations, where it still is today.