The herald., 1896-01-19
| Whit SHE BUYS
ZzsZsSE-.E.sETzs.-WTMEE

The possession of at least one Eastern
lug is necessary to every woman's content
ment of heart. The more ancient and
weatherbeaten it happens to look the better,
for then the owner can easily persuade her
self that it has been in her family for
centuries and trodden upon by hundreds
Of ancestors
If you can invest in only one rug, let it be
a Daghestan-that is, if you have a moder
ate sum to eXpend. say $50 or $3.50 Orwell
$500. A Khorassan is more valuable, of
course. but it is only when one has more
money than one knows quite what to do
with that she takes 5000 or $500 of it, or
81 900 or S1,500, and orders a Khorassan for
her drawing room.
The one is Turkish rug-the Daghestan
the other-Khorassan- is a Persian rug.
and they take their names from the towns in
which they are woven; it might seem that
the only difference between the two was a
matter of miles and furongs.
X X Y
Color, pile and quality have much to do
with determining the price of a rug. One
showing bright reds and greens, of course.
is not as valuable as cne in dull shades.
The Bokhara, Turkish rug, is a very
fine weave, and usually high-priced; red is
q predominant color; if blue in any quantity
is used in the rug it is sure to bring high
er price. 1vorywhite figures on dark, rich
red is a common combination in Bokhara
In a Daghestan blue is frequently seen, but
If you possess a Bokhara with much or any
blue in it You are lucky indeed.
AS a rule it is only an Aetor or Van
derbilt who can own blue Bokharas.
AT the last Worlds Fair John d. Rookie
feller bought ali Eastern rug, or rather car
pet, for which he paid S200 1t is a SUI
perb example Of an antique Persian rug.
Cornelius Vanderbilt also has a fondness
for these deliciously expensive poetical
6 t11f nd moi pI,- oh,
a rug-or $4,000. Pliny tells us of Baby
lonian tapestries figured with plants and
animals, the sphinx, griffins and dragons,
for which prices varying from 1000 to 400-
600 sesterces were paid, but this probably is
nothing to what the modern millionaire pays
for bit of covering for his floor, unless the
sesterce is more than the present scribe
imagines, and she is obliged to confess to
total ignorance on this point.
The mode of manufacture is the same for
each; the essential difference is in the style
of the pattern, the Turkish being the more
arabesque AS no two Ionic capitals of
Greek workmanship, even in the same tenn
pie. were alike in anything but general size
and character, so in the Turkish rug, the
same pattern is never again exactly repro
duced. The Persian rugs, more often than
not, have their patterns, which are as a rule
geometrical figures, defined clearly on both
sides, and are woven quite smooth.
Feragham, Herman, Kurdistan and Kho-
rassan are the four chief places in Persia
for the manufacture of carpets or rugs. The
Herati pattern is a common one for the
Khorassan carpets; it is the favorite eight
pointed star enlarged and repeated over the
whole.
The arabesque designs, peculiar to Turk
ish rugs, show fve-eaved roses and curling
tendrils; the borders in many cases have
traces of Arabian ornamental writing the
popularity of the patterns being accounted
for by the theory that the carpets represent
tnlaid jeweled work, which accords with the
oriental delight in gems and precious stones.
The many mistakes in the matching Of
colors, which on careful scrutiny are often
apparent, is said to be due to the fact that
the weaver, while working with certain
wool, if it runs short, replaces it with an
other as near like 1t as possible without
taking the trouble or the delay to get the
exact shade.
There is a special reason also for the soft
ness of tint noticeable in the Eastern wools.
this is caused by their being dyed in their
naturally greasy state, so that a soft, oily
luster permeates all the colors. For the
same reason white always has a yellowish-
gray appearance. But in many instances
the dim colors are due to the fact that they
are actually dirty.
Many of the most magnificent examDlos
of Eastern carpets have found their way to
New York and are owned by the little
brothers and sisters of the rich. For in
stance, Mrs. Goelet has an imperial Khor-
assam court carpet for which something like
$4,000 was paid. 1t is a large CARPET about
twenty feet long by seventeen feet wide
The background is dark blue, the design
being carried out in soft shades of gold
blue. cream and old red, with a border of
gold covered with medallions of rich BIZ
An interesting point in connection with this
rug is that on each end the seal of the