The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-27


ventional designs: and some of the animal
and human figures which they have used
have their own religious Significance. The
author adds in a footnote an interesting
Bit of conjecture:
The figures of the lion and deer, or leopard
and deer. seen so often in conjunction in the
central fields of Persian rugs. are Of very ancient
origin. Scholars opinions vary As TO their
precise derivation: while they are believed TO
have been brought from China, in the ancient
religion OF which similar portrayals had definite
significance, Kindred shapes are, nevertheless.
found in gigantic relief upon stone porticos IN
the rninS oi PtrSepolis. that their importation
from China, ii that he indeed their birthplace.
and their invcaving into the symbolism of the
Old PersI.ns, must have been accomplished at
vyTy remote ,,eriod. Aside from al doubts as
10 ticir origin. il is generally agreed among
Oritntalists that the feline shape represents day
light, and that Of tle deer antelope what
ever species OF the family it may be, darkness.
Invariably the lion preys upon the deer, and, by
fsurative Interpretation, has come to be re-
garded in this connection symbolic OF victory
or L!oIy. 1t is perhaps imaginative, but for
all that. not wholly without reason to believe
that here, in SONG sort, is the foundation Of
toe story that
The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the
clown,
Tha lion chased the unicorn all about the
town"
This derivation is not unlikely since in some
of the ancient depictions the vanquisied animal
Is paiLly seen 10 have the single horn growing
from his forehead.
This little piece of informa ton reveals
something of the wonderful history of
Oriental art. Streams confined to the mar
row limits of a canyon are apt to be deep
and rapid: and when art meant to an en-
tire people the mere combination of color
and form, without other inspiration than
that of the inner consciousness of the ar
Yfet II.
preston, it is natural that the combna-
tons evolved should have been marvellous
in beauty and richness. No other condi-
tons could have produced them; no other
conditions ever will. In the ages which a1e
to come the destiny of the Orient may be
linked with that of the Occdent, and the
circumstances which attended the creation
of the infinitely varied designs of the ORR
entail regumaker will probably pass away;
but at least the traditions of the past can
be preserved, and the old designs and Sc
crets of coloring and weaving need not be
lost. AS the author suggests, these IA
brics probably contain the unwritten his
tory of religion as well as of art. Mys-
tic symbols of which only some chosen
priests know the meaning are universally
used in the East. Mr.. Mumford says:
that their first value was religious or regal,
rather than utilitarian, seems beyond doubt Even
in its rudest forms the art sunptuary. 1t
is eoeval with the first uplifting OF one man
above his fellows whether the exal;ation was
religious, pecuniary, or physical.
And again:
How remote the time in which these strange
textile devices were born is matter for archae
olOgy to determine. In dozen different families
OF Oriental rugs are TO be found the patterns of
the stu3e carvings on the ancient Maya temples
Ill fucatan, which, If students of Mexican anti
quities TO be believed, built when Egypt
was wilderness. and abandoned centuries before
Confucius. These Mayas the people whose
missionaries, it is averred, crossed the Pacific to
settle in the Deccan, and journeyinG over Asia
taught to infant Egypt the fundament of the
Mysteries, and handed down to Judaism and
Christianity, for future use, the story OF Cain
and Abel, and even the older one of the tempted
Eve.
Tracing the art through history, the
author says:
OF the Phoenician and archaic Grecian textile
patterns the only knowledge to be had is in the
designs of the pottery, which show in detail
multitude Of patterns, both separate and con-
secuihe. which appear in the rugs of Asia
Minor and the Trans Caucasus today, in perfect
integrity. Prot. Middleton refers 10 them in this
Wis; Simple combinations of lines, arranged
in designs obviously suggested by the mating
or textile fabrics" He says further: Some
races Of men in elementary stage Of progress,
and occur the earliest known pottery that
of the Neolithic Age
As time went on this primitive ornament grew
more profuse Greece and her neighbors borrowed
the floral &c Ietrical patterns, chiefly the lotus
and attendant shapes, from Egypt and Assyria,
and made them part Of her system OF ornsmen-
taiion, at the richest period of Greek predonlil-
ance. This lean. il will lie later, Greece
amt her pupil Italy repaid with interest to
Persia, heir % the Assyrian art, centuries after
wards.
While, after the perfection Of the floral forms,
Greece was widening the field Of her textile
decorations, the Far East, too. developed a
newer richness in its meanings the renoWn OF
which is abundahtlv preserved. How promi-
nent feature the ,trpets were Of all the life
OF the Orient, plain and hidden in its poverty;
bright and sumptuous in its spiendor. the litera-
ture Of all eras shows The Bible from Genesis to
Revelation IS filed with illusions 10 them. Their
colors brighten the pages of Homer. Herodotus
and Strabo bear witness to the use OF gold and
silver carpets upon the floors in Perxia. The
chroniclers Of conquest pause in their narratives
to tell of the fabrics which we're like sunrise
OF gold upon a world streNn with blossoms.
Every author of antiquity whose writings the
hand of Time has spared has left records OF those
splendid weavings.
For centuries down mo the Christian era, the
fame of the Persian carpets grew among the peo-
pie OF the West, and Tesses plying the Mediter-
ranean carried rich fIeights Of textiles 10 golden
Rome. Fortunes were layished on them. Upon
their conquest of ByZantium the Romans appro-
priated much of its civilization but again re-
ceding, left its art almost unaltered by their
presence. The East has remained the fountain
head OF harmony. Even and carnage had
power to quel the spirit of its art. The Cru
saders home with tneir wonderful stories,
and wore on their shields as hGaijic devices the
dragons and grifins and namelcss birds which
Egypt had centuries before wrought upon the
tapestries OF its temples The Troubadours sang,
and the spirit OF the East had entered into their
singing. Europe and Araby went mad
The Caraceus. sWarmiuu into Sugin took with
them the Eastern looms and patterns and hues,
an wove in Cordoys and other towns carpets
like those Of the Orient. Through all Europe in
this fashion went the famous carpets Of Balde
chine" and with them the legend and poesy and
mysticism of the land where they were born
While the influence was spreading along the
shores of the Mediterranean, another track had
been opened by which notions Of this dycng and
weaving and other Oriental handicrafts had been
making way overland as far Scandinavia, leay-
ing all the way trail which IS plain to the
present time. There have been found in towns on
the Morse Islands coins which show that com
mcrcial relations existed between those parts
and the Orient early in the Christian centuries,
and the southern races. exploring the Norseland
long afterward were amazed at the skill OF these
snow girt nations in the dyeins OF wool and the
weaving Of carpets and coverings.
But the Eastern textile industry, planted in
turn in Spain, Sicily, and Venice retained better
its Characteristic form, for the Mediterranean
merchants took to their cities the most skillful
weavers from the looms Of Persia and first from
Cordoya then from Palermo in the twelfth cen
tury and from Nenite in the fourteenth. Europe
was supplied with carpets Of true Oriental pat
tern and method, TO spread IN its cathedrals, in
the throne-rooms OF its royalty and the boudors
Of its great ladies'
So far had Italy progressed in the sixteenth
century that the Shah Abbas, whose reign marks
the climax Of development in Persia, sent from
his court in order 10 demonstrate his antagonisin
to the Central Asian influence strong after
@ Iani4T.