The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-27
1:14[l:tj.ll;@ 3 i:!7

blindness of those past ages which al
lowed Greek sculptures to he broken up for
the founda tion-stunes of buildings. and at
the Puritan fanaticism which destroyed
priceless works of art in English catle-
drals; but ii is to be doubted whether our
own age is free from exactly the same
laundering ignorance. Here is an art,
evolved through countless generations of
patient toll and creative genius, prehistor-
| ic in its origin, simple. yet complicated in
method which is in imminent danger OF
| being absolutely lost; and moreover, the
products of that art which now exist are
not like statues, practically lmpershaple,
| but liable to be destroyed little by little,
until the Oriental rug as We know ii shall
| be mere tradition, without a single spec
| linen of genuine workmanship to prove
| that it actually existed. There is no ques-
| ton that the industry can be saved from
| corruption, and the way is simple enough.
| 1t lies in the education of that compare
| lively small minority of the people of this
| country and of Europe who are rich
enough to buy rugs. When these people
know and demand the best, the best will
be forthcoming. The advice which Mr..
Mumford gives on this point is the quin-
tessence of common sense. He says:
The best of modern products are forced to pay
tribute TO the inatuatiun of the West for what
is seems to be OF great age. The astute ven
doris of the East, and undoubtedly some in this
country, take shrewd advantage of every blemish
| in rug, and employ unnumbered tricks OF
| chemical and other treatment, TO add 10 the APP
pearance of age, and consequent value. to fabrics
| which left the looms perhaps not more than a
| year ago. Ii may be that your antique which
| you brought home yesterday in all the proud
| joy OF ownership, has within its brief twelve
~f ST. hp. mad n tIr1p rrn
| processes. 1t may have been treated with lemon
! juice and oxalic acid, for example, to change its
| ilaring red into old shades, or with coffee TO
| give IT the yellow OF years. Its iustTe may be
! born OF glycerine. 1t may have been singed with
| hot irt Its hues have perhaps been dulled
| by smoke. II may have been buried in the
! ground and then renovated, sand-papered back
and front to give the thinncss of old age, and
for the sheer decreptitude of almost sacred and
| invaluable antiquity, hammered and coInbed at
the sides and ends, and on spots over its surface
| There is end to these devices, and not much
| cur. for Il EN-.
| On the whole, it is to be well considered
| whether, with these facts in view, the wisest
course in selecting Oriental rugs for all
| the most opulent buyers-the 'collectors'-is
not to abandon the rather bottles search for
genuine antiques, and purchase fabrics confessed
ly new, but which conform infinitely to the high
est standards; which have the requisite number
OF knots 10 the square inch, the coors OF which
will not when attacked by water, the patterns
of which purely the patterns of the East
antiques.
The money paid for artificial age would secure
all these merits in fabric; the amount
of service and genuine comfort derived would
prove grea-er in the end, and heirlooms-for
they viii outlive the buyer by generations-they
would be derrer than IL they had come into the
family vito what may accurately be called "a
doubtful psst.''
II will be seen that the author gently
but Enthusiastically impales upon the point
of his argument those more or less shoddy
people. to be found all over this country,
and in some others as well, who are wildly
anxious TO secure TO their homes the ap-
pearance of old family residences full of
heirlooms, when they are in reality crea-
lures of yesterday. There is nothing dis
honorable in newly-acquired wealth. one
may indeed doubt whether the millionaire
of today, whose ancestors were good honest
artisans, is not more truly of gentle blood
than the descendant of a hundred some
what tyrannical, cold-hearted and disrepu-
! table earls. 1t all depends on the man;
that is the truly democratic way of look
ing at 1t. But for the commoner who is
trying to put on the airs of the earl, there
is little TO be said. Instead of accepting
his own part in life-the king of new
conditions which shall be higher than the
old-he is trying to borro'' some other
mans conditions which do not belong to
him or fit him. One can have patience
with the man who is not as good as he
ought to be, but not very much with the
man who does not want to be as good as
he is.
The work Of the rug-buyer of today,
then. is manifestly TO rescue Oriental art
from impending destruction, not TO hurry
on its decrepitude by encouraging false
pretences. 1t is his business to know how
the new rug ought to look, and what con,
stitutes it's value; not to take on faith the
assertion of some dealer that the purchase
is a genuine antique. One does not con-
slider the buyer OF pictures a man of artis-
tic senslbilities unless he himself knows
why he likes such and such a picture; I'M
less he himself. without any information
about the correctness of the drawing or
the beauty of the coloring, can see that the
picture is good. An Oriental rug is just
as much a work of art as a painting by
/ Murillo; and 1t takes considerably more
insight and knowledge to understand the
ms and outs of fits being than to appre-
ciate the greatness of Raphael; for where
as the painter is an Individual portraying
| the conceptions of his own imagination,
! the rugmaker hands on to posterity the
! traditions, artistic Inspirations, and re-
| ligious symbolism of whole race. II one
has not the Imagination to appreciate this
fact, and the patience to study such things
thoroughly, it is better not to blunder into
! buying the sham product from & desire to
appear esthetic in taste. The man who
| honestly likes chrome need not be
| ashamed of his liking; but the man who
pretends to like Ruskin's drawings when
| he would ra sher have an engraving of the
| Three Graces needs to have his conscience
as well as his artistic sense cultivated.s
After this Introductory chapter, showing
clearly the need of the present work, and
knowledge will be lost 20 posterity, the
author takes up the history of carpets.
He explains that while, in this country,
carpet is merely intended TO cover the
floor and serve as a background for other
articles, in the East 1t is quite different.
Probably the main idea of many people In
this country is that carpet is not so
much for ornament as for warmth, for in
q land where winter lasts for about half
the year some sort of foor-covering adds
much to the comfort of house Hence
we have in modern life a mixture of ira
dition and practical convenience. For our
use of carpet, the palmer IT is the bet
ter; and had such fabric come into be-
ing in a temperate climate II would prob
ably have been quite plain. We have
however inherited the tradition that IL
should be ornamental; and hence one
finds, In many American homes, floors
covered with carpets of sunset hues. and
nd I'll baf