Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-11-29
ABOUT ORIENTAL RUGS.
THE LOVELY PRODUCT OF EAST
ERN RELIGIOUS LIFE.

In all sizes and IN all possible colore,
with figures fantastic or designs most
exquisite; soft and glossy as seal fur
or thick and shaggy as a bear skin;
fresh from the looms of Persia or old as
the empire of the sultans, and bearing
the dust of the Caucasus come the orr
entail rugs to the marts of western civili-
zatiop.
fhe oriental rug is the product of
! eastern life, The mountain sheep sup
piled its material, nature taught the de
sign and gave the coloring, and the re-
ligion of the people became the impulse
and guiding spirit of the deft woman
fingers that through many centuries
spread the knotted mystic covers in the
homes and shrines of the orient.
Eastern life is religion. The people
eat, drink, work and think according to
the dictates of their traditional faith;
and though the idea of utility may have
some time largely entered into the pro-
duction of rugs in the orient, the domi-
nant spiritof the work has been religion,
and the rug is thus sacred in the eyes Of
the people.
In the prayer of the Islam center va
rious sacred ideas. He bows down be-
fore his Maker, and the material on
which he rests his hands must be suscep-
tible to spotless cleanliness; he wants to
find himself in an atmosphere of high
thoughts and sacred suggestions, and as
he looks down in kneeling he sees the
living green and crimson-symbols of
life and power-mingled in all mystic
figures with blue and gold that carry
to him faint ideas of love and glory. At
home in the rooms where the morning
sun looks in, the pious Turk finds in his
prayer rug the associations Of the
mosques in his native city, or Of the
holiest of holies where he prayed in
his pilgrimage to Mecca, in the form of
domes and panels and the designs of en-
caustic tiles, and peculiar arrangements
of stone and brick in the walls; so that
wherever the worshiping Turk may be
found, kneeling upon a prayer rug
against the eastern sky, the soul finds
itself in the midst of sacred associations
and breathes the holy atmosphere of the
temple where it has prayed with the
faithful.
Thus dignified, the oriental rug became
great institution among the peoples of
the orient, both Moslem and Christian,
and industry and talent have been de-
voted to it for centuries. By reason of
the high value thus put upon good rug,
the mothers and daughters of the people
who set themselves to the arduous task
of "tying up" rug spared no pains in
procuring the best materials, and their
zeal developed the highest talent. In
many cases they were made for votive
offerings to mosques and shrines; then
nothing was to be spared Ruskin's
clamp of sacrifice was there in all
brightness; it is gift to God, and must
be costly. The finest wool, the best of
dyes and the highest talent were put
upon the altar, and some of these old
Kazak and Daghistan rugs that stray
out of Turkish mosque or shrine are
splendid works of art, with an exuber-
ance of rich, soft coloring and bold de-
sign that delight the eyes and call forth
the admiration of appreciative minds.
There is no complicated machinery in
the manufacture of an oriental rug, the
warp being stretched on a simple frame,
and all the rest of the work done
by tying the colored yarn across the
warp in line, in peculiar strong knot.
combing it down hard and cutting it the
necessary length. Where each particular
tuft of yarn had thus to be tied in knot
by the skIllful fingers of the artist wea.
yer, medium sized rug of good quality
required the labor of months or years,
according to the simple or elaborate de-
sign which the artist carried in mind
Considering the fact that there was no
machinery to save labor, no chemicals,
no shadow of an art school, an antique
oriental rug of fair quality, that in color
and texture has defed the tread of cen
turtles, is no mean proof of the patient
industry and consummate artistic skill of
the daughters of the orient.
Professor William Thomson tells of an
oriental rug which the family had in
his boyhood in Syria 1t had done SER
vice of all kinds long enough to be torn
in two and the half rug used to go to
the sea shore with the boys to receive no
gentle treatment When soiled with
earth it would be washed in salt sea
water and thrown on the burning sands
10 dry under the Syrian sun, that can
bleach anything: but the only effect of
th" ordeal ON the half rug would be to
give the colors new life.
What is the intrinsic value of an an
,iGuc oriental rug: Answer, he who
can That soft, glossy Anatolian prayer
rug. with fine, intricate design border
ing the rich gold ground, is the handi-
work OF passionate maiden. who spent
years of patient toll on it, while before
her mind there stood the distaut visions
Of herself, Il mother kneeling on that
rug in ardent prayer for her children
That rug cuG!d hardly be produced
today for It's own weight in gold,
for not only the artist and the dyes are
gone forever, but the palriarchal days of
peace and quiet prosperity that made
such art and labor possible are no more
to be rcvnd under Turkish skies.
Turki@h rugs of the highest quality
have always been made in the region OF
the Caucasus mountains by Turks, Ar
menians, Turcomans and Kurds, the lat
ter two being nomad races. "Daghis-
tan" (Which means mountain region) is