Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-10-09
DECORATIVE ART
ORIENTAL OBJECTS TO FIGURE IN
THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL.
CARPETS FROM PERSIA and TURKEY.
Interesting Facts About Their weav-
ing, Color, and Design-views of
.ltuskin and owen Jones-An Unique
Display at Temple, Pemberton,
Cordes e. Co.'S.

John Ruskln, the eminent art critic,
who has for many years been considered
a criterion In all matters OF taste, has
promulgated a dogma that taste is not
only a part and an index of morality
II is the only morality.
The liking for outside ornaments, for
pictures, for statues. or furniture. he
holds, is a moral quality so long as the
taste lies In the direction Of the best. All
delight In art and all love of II resolve
themselves into simple love Of that which
deserves love. That deserving is the
quality which we call loneliness" and
1t is not an Indifferent nor optional thing
whether We love this or that; but IL is
just the vital function of all our being.
What we like determines what we are,
and is sign Of what we are.
ART IN CARPETS.
In a privately printed lecture Of Mr..
Owen Jones on 1.-The True and the False
In Decorative Arts" that well-known
authority devotes good deal OF space to
the use of carpets in houses, and praises
unstintedly those which come to us from
the East AS to carpet design, he says:
Carpets should be darker in tone and
a room, both because they present the
largest mass of color, and because they
serve as a background to the furniture
placed upon them.
LAS a general rule, lighter carpets may
he used in rooms thinly furnished than
the contrary, as we should otherwise have
too oyerpowering a mass of shade. Orlen-
tai rugs are, by universal consent, adopt
ed. The principal design In Turkey
carpet is perfect, and our manufacturers
would do WELL instead OF copying them
In Administer, as is their wont, to apply
the principles to be learned from them
In producing carpets more IN harniohy
with their requirements.
ART OF THE ORIENT UNSURPASSED.
The fact that the demand for Oriental
wares and fabrics has grown TO such d
large extent is in nowise remarkaple'
for despite the boosted progress OF the
nineteenth century, 1t is generally con-
ceded that in the production OF useiui
and ornamental articles the Oriental,
upon whose shoulders the mantle Oh the
ancient Egyptian has fallen. has never
been surpassed.
II needs no seer to prophesy that the
carpets Of Persia and Of Turkey will
this wear take more prominent place
in house decoration than ever before.
Messrs. Temple. Pemberton, Cordes *
Co. the well-known dry-goods hrm,
which is always in the van OF every
progressive movement, have recognized
the coming vogue, and have made extra
ordinary preparations to meet Ii, and TO
supply the demand with the choicest
fabrics. Their stock, which has been col
lected by their agents from the principal
| centres in Persia and Turkey, has never
| been equalled in the South.
| CARPET WEAVING IN THE ORIENT
1t may not be generally known that
| carpets. as manufactured in the present
! day, range themselves under two classes,
| the first and ancient class being such as
are made by knotting into the warp turf
| after tuft, the materials OF the pattern,
and the second consisting OF those In
| which the pattern is woven up In the
| LOOM To the first class belong Orientai
| carpets generally, as well as such as are
| woven at many places throughout Eu-
rope under the name of Turkish carpets.
Persia is now, as II has been from the
| most remote times, the recognized source
of what is most truly artistic, durable,
and valuable In this manufacture; and
after the products of that country those
of various parts of Turkey and India are
most esteemed
The carpet weaving Of Persia Is similar
in its process to the tapestry manufac-
| ture of Gobelins Beauvais, or Aubusson.
| In both methods the principle is the
| same Both are formed in looms Of very
simple construction, the warp threads
are arranged in parallel order, whether
upright or horizontal, and the fabric and
| pattern are produced by colored thread,
| hand wrought upon the warp.
| In Persia there are entire families
| whose only occupation Is that OF carpet
weaving. These dispose of their produc-
| tions at the baZaars 10 native merchants
who remove them to Smyrna or Constan-
| tinople where they meet with American
| and European purchasers.
The finest carpets, both as to design and
| texture, come from Herman, Feraghan
| and Kurdistan. The Herman products re
sembe in appearance the finest velvet
| pile carpets, but with the nap cut much
| shorter. The carpets OF Feraghan are IN
external appearance somewhat like Brus'
| sells carpets, while those OF KurdistaI
have their pattern on both sides and are
| woven quite smooth.
The greater part of the real Turkey
carpets imported into America, choice
| samples of which are kept in stock b.
1 Il
| In this city, are manufactured in the pro-
vince of Alden, about six days journey
| from Smyrna. and rugs are principally
made at Kulah, in the same province.
| IRREGULARITIES OF THE DESIGNS.
These carpets are the work Of familie:
and households. They are woven in one
piece, and there is this notable pecu
liarity in their manufacture. that the same
| pattern is never again exactly repro
| duced-no two carpets are quite alike
! The patterns are very remarkable, beinl
rude and simple in design. and comins
down from a very remote period. The
colors are rich and harmonious, red oil
green being the usual ground colors
with blues, yellow, and black, but rarely
is white permitted 10 appear The de
sign Is usually made up OF large central
more or less diamonded. pattern, with
smaller diamonds filling UP the corners
| and sides the whole surrounded with