Lamb’s Tongue Border

The motif for this border is drawn directly from classical ornamentation and is know in a number of variants from American, English, and French sources. The Historic New England archive contains a very similar border printed by Zecheriah Mills in Hartford, Connecticut, circa 1802-1807. Another border was discovered in Richmond, Virginia on a circa 1800 “tester” (canopy) bed attributed to Duncan Pfyffe. A third version was found in Marshgate House outside of London, England, and dates from about 1810. And a very similar motif has been found on a French dado paper from circa 1800.