The Washington herald., 1909-04-14
ORIENTAL RUGS.
By FREDERIC ]. HASKTN.

Recently Mr. H. H. Topakyan. OF New
York. presented to the White House a
wonderful Oriental rug. It is six and a
half feet long by four and a half wide
woven OF imperial silk and studded with
pearls. turquoises. and rubies. The esti-
mated worth is $4,000. At present the
rug is stretched upon an easel in Presi-
dent Tafts private Office. The giver
certainly understood that In the creation
OF the house beautiful" the American
has no peer. The youngest Of the na-
tons has proved to be the greatest con-
sumer, not only of the comforts of this
continent but OF the arts ard luxuries
OF the Old World The Eastern rug.
with all its warmth and blending OF color
its softness of pile, the air Of mystery
in its quaint designs appeals directly
20 the American, and TO him is due the
revival Of the rug weaving os the Orient
Our annual imports Of carpets and rugs
from European Turkey range between
50000e and 10000 square yards, and from
Asiatic Turkey from $1,000 TO 45, 900. The
aggregate value OF these yearly importa-
tons ranges from 100000 10 SS500.OOO.
This does not include the rugs bought
in London. And. besides. many Eastern
weavers notably Armenians, have set
their looms in our own country
The art OF weaving is as old as civil
tzation. Egypt. mother of all industries.
points her finger at her craven pictures.
On the tombs at -Hassan weavers
are still working at their handlooms.
= Somewhere about 200 B. G. they began.
and their unfinished tapestries speak
louder than any historians written word
Hundreds of years later an Egyptian
queen had herself conveyed to Caesars
presence concealed in a rug. Did her
woman's wit tell her that the soft. rich
pile would enhance her beauty. and help
mitigate the great mans anger?
Besides Egypt Assyria. Chaldea. and
PhOenicia carried on extensive rug MAX
ing From the far East. rug weaving
sprced into Greece. thence to Italy. Fl
nally when the Saracen swept all before
him. he carried the art into Spain and
Western Europe.
over the vast plains Of Asia roam great
herds Of sheep. goats, and cameIs Oven
the merinos Of Spain do not yield such
fleece as the sheep Of Farsistan. And who
has not heard Of the wonderful wool
from the Kashmir. Angora, and Tibet
goats? Somehow. these animals refuse
10 be domestcated elsewhere, as expensive
experiments have proved. Throughout
the mysterious Orient are the weavers Of
the wonderful Eastern patterns. Though
these people be spread over an immense
territory though they be members of to-
tally different tribes, though they be the
nomads who spin while they tend their
hocks though they be the independent
Weavers who work in their huts, OF
though fNnW 4 Hr~ he
master Of the town, or the large modern
nrn-al have characteristics in common.
From time immemOrial the father has
handed the trade down to his son. and the
son has no desire to change He hes no
ambition above his monotonous life and
the few pennies he earns suffice for his
needs.
The shearing usually takes place in the
spring. The wool Is carefully laid in
piles and picked over 1t Is then washed
several times in running water and dried
slowly and evenly IN the sun. During
these processes II loses about 30 per cent
OF weight IN dirt and 50 per cent in ami
nal oil. The carding and spinning are
done in the simplest fashion with the
rudest implements. Though protesting
against further concessions TO modern
methods, the natives have finally adopted
the spinning wheel. and in several sec
tons, where very heavy carpets are made.
the Europeans have introduced steam
mills.
After the spinning come the dyeing.
The yarn. not the wool. is dyed. The
native always uses vegetable or animal
dyes, so an antique" is a rug whose age
numbers City years or more. having been
made before the introduction Of aniline
dyes. The reds are extracted from mad
der. from sleeps blood from q little in
sect which infests the oak trees along the
coast OF the Mediterranean. from ivy her
ries, from onion skins, and lately from
the Mexican cOchinael Blue comes from
the indigo plant. The Persian berry fur
nishes yellow Ehe last in combination
with indigo forms the various green's
Browns are extracted from gall nuts.
Lavenders and violets are produced like !
the Old lost Tyrian purple, from marine
mollusks
About the middle Of the last century. |
mineral or aniline dyes were introduced
into the Orient. Their colors are not !
1ast and rugs are not what they were !
In 1900. the Shah OF Persia issued an 1
ediet making It crime to bring aniIine
dyes into the country, but the law is I
lax A modern purchaser Of an antioue /
should look well to IL that his rug has
not gained its appearance Of age from 1
having slept awhile in the bosom of ]
Mother Earth. or from being uressed I
with a hot iron and that the velloUe I
have not been artihcialIy duled win
coffee and the reds with lemon Juice.
through the dyeing process. the work
IS mostly done by men. Except in In /
ola, the weaving is generally lef, n 4
the girls and women. Formerly. the /
Eastern maiden wove rugs for her dov,rv-
even as Puritan PrisCillas of our own 1
land fitted out their linen chests. The
weaving Is all done by hand on the /
simplest kind Of a frame The design 4
IS worked from right to left and from 1
the bottom upward There are but two
kinds OF knots. the Persian Of Selma. and
the Turkish OF Ghiordes. The former has
more knots to the square inch than the
latter An antique Selma in the possess
sion OF noted collector has loo knots
TO the square inch. and more than mil
lion In the rug
The divisions into kinds are somewhat
as follows: The mamazlik or praver rng
with its niche representing the niche of
the mosque Every true believer upreads
his rub On the ground at prayer time I
points the niche toward Mecca. and with
his head IN the angle performs his devo-
tions. Next comes the hamramlyk or
bath rug. presented 20 the bride on her
wedding day The odjaklik. or bear+t
rug Is very precious 70 the family who
always spread il before the fire unou the
arrival Of a guest The ber6elixs ara
hangings Most OF the silk fabrics he
long TO this class and are seldom used
IN the East as floor carpets There are
ale EaIf .IaN-. I