^ssj» Miv'itL'vm^mnxmi'K'^Hieilf^ 
 
 
Albert K. Mann Library 
 
 CoR-NELL University 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S.A. 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924101530099 
 
RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE 
 LAND 
 
Antique Kulah Rug 
 
RUGS 
 
 IN THEIR NATIVE 
 LAND 
 
 BY 
 
 ELIZA DUNN 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS COLOR PLATES AND 
 OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
 
 1916 
 

 Copyright, igio 
 By Dodd, Mead and Company 
 
 Published November, 1910 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 A RESIDENCE of many years in 
 Turkey, part of the time in the 
 far interior, offered ample oppor- 
 tunity to continue the study of Oriental 
 rugs begun in America. 
 
 It is my purpose in this book to tell 
 what I learned there about rug weaving, 
 rug dyeing, and rug collecting. It is nec- 
 essarily a narrative of personal experience, 
 and the indulgence of the reader is craved 
 for the use of the personal pronoun. 
 
 I have endeavored to avoid generalities, 
 and to give the history and characteristic 
 designs of each variety of rug, with illus- 
 trations of specimen pieces under separate 
 headings. 
 
 The object in thus deviating from the 
 plan of any other work on rugs is to enable 
 
vi INTRODUCTION 
 
 the reader who wishes to identify any par- 
 ticular rug to find everything that pertains 
 to that variety in one place and not scat- 
 tered through several chapters. 
 
 This arrangement, it is hoped, will meet 
 a long-felt need, as expressed to me by col- 
 lectors and students of rugs. 
 
 ELIZA DUNN 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction v 
 
 Chapter 
 
 I. The Story of the Rug and How 
 
 IT IS Made 3 
 
 II. The Wool and its Preparation . 19 
 
 III. Dyeing 25 
 
 IV. Doctored Rugs 37 
 
 V. Design 45 
 
 VI. Buying Rugs in the Orient ... 53 
 
 VII. Carpet Rugs 63 
 
 Carpets 67 
 
 Prayer, Burial, and Silk Rugs 76-80 
 
 The Sacred Carpet 82 
 
 Turkish Rugs 85 
 
 Persian Rugs 103 
 
 Caucasian Rugs 118 
 
 Turkoman Rugs 127 
 
 Saddle-bags and Pillows , . . 135 
 
 Kelims 137 
 
 A Final Word 143 
 
COLOUR PLATES 
 
 Antique Pergamos Ruo Cover Inlay 
 
 Antique Kulah Rug Frontispiece 
 
 Facing Page 
 
 Antique Herat Rug 8 
 
 Kara Osman Oghlou Rug 14 
 
 Colours from Vegetable Dyes .... 26 
 
 Ferehan Rug 30 
 
 Antique Kulah Rug 40 
 
 KiRMAN Rug 48 
 
 Hammedan Rug 56 
 
 Antique Ghiordes Rug 68 
 
 Antique Saraband Rug 76 
 
 Ladik Rug 84 
 
 Antique Pergamos Rug 96 
 
 Kabistan Rug 108 
 
 Beluchistan Rug 120 
 
 Senna Kelim 132 
 
BLACK AND WHITE PLATES 
 
 Facing Page 
 
 Melez Rug 4 
 
 Shirvan Rug 10 
 
 Sarakh Rug 20 
 
 Old Daghestan Rug 28 
 
 Antique Kuba Rug 38 
 
 Lesghian Strip 46 
 
 Old Kazak Rug 54 
 
 Sumac Rug 58 
 
 Ghiordes Rug, Modern, No. I . . . . 64 
 
 Antique Persian Prayer Rug 72 
 
 Persian Silk Rug 80 
 
 Sacred Carpet • 82 
 
 Kulah Rug, No. I 88 
 
 Pergamos Rug, No. I 92 
 
 Mosul Rug, No, I 100 
 
 Kabistan Rug, No. I 104 
 
 Bokhara Rug, Royal Design 112 
 
 Bokhara Rug, Tekke Design 116 
 
 Old Mosul Rug, No. II 124 
 
 Kurdish Kelim 128 
 
 Saddle-Bag 13^ 
 
 Aleppo Kelim . 14° 
 
 Malatia Kelim 140 
 
THE STORY OF THE RUG AND 
 HOW IT IS MADE 
 
3augs in tjeir jaatitie iLant 
 
 Chapter I 
 
 THE STORY OF THE RUG AND 
 HOW IT IS MADE 
 
 MY first introduction to the study 
 of Oriental Rugs in their native 
 land was during the journey 
 from the coast into the far interior of 
 Turkey. This journey required two weeks 
 and was made in a travelling wagon called 
 an Araba. Being bound by no time tables 
 except to reach by nightfall a town or set- 
 tlement where accommodations for travel- 
 lers and horses could be obtained, we were 
 at liberty to stop where and when we 
 chose. 
 
 Soon after leaving the City of Tocat, 
 dating back to the time of the Roman oc- 
 cupation, the approach to which is over a 
 
4 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 stone arched Roman bridge as solid now 
 as when it was first built, we came down 
 the mountain side into a rich, fertile valley 
 which was dotted over with the camps of 
 nomad Kurds who at that season of the 
 year move with their flocks and herds from 
 place to place wherever good pasture can 
 be obtained. The black camel's hair tents 
 brought to my mind the tents of " Kedar " 
 and we decided to pay them a visit. 
 
 Travelling with an official of the Gov- 
 ernment, we had in addition to the usual 
 road escort of mounted gendarmes (which 
 the Turkish government furnishes to travel- 
 lers at a regular tariff) the Cavasses of the 
 gentlemen with whom we travelled, so when 
 we approached the settlement (if a group 
 of tents can be dignified by that name) we 
 were ushered into the tent of the chief of 
 the tribe. There on a raised bank of earth 
 sat the venerable old man dressed in flowing 
 Oriental robes, with turbaned head and long 
 gray beard. He welcomed us to a seat be- 
 side him while servants brought in the fra- 
 
Melez Rug 
 
HOW THE RUG IS MADE 5 
 
 grant coffee, the inevitable accompaniment 
 to Turkish hospitality. 
 
 Those of our party not connected with 
 the family of the official were seated on 
 small rugs on the floor of hard packed clay. 
 It was hard to realize that we had not sud- 
 denly been transported by magic back to 
 the Old Testament times. 
 
 This must be Abraham, those black-eyed 
 women stealing furtive glances at us around 
 the corners of the tent curtains must be 
 Sarah and Hagar, while Ishmael played 
 with his companions in our midst, a game 
 in which the knuckle bones of sheep were 
 substituted for the marbles of modern 
 times. • 
 
 The fabric of the tent was closely woven 
 camel's hair, into which were wrought some 
 rude tribal designs. The curtains which 
 divide or connect the smaller tents with 
 that of the chief were kelims with the 
 borders characteristic of the rugs woven by 
 these people. We were taken to see the 
 women weaving the rugs, and upon our re- 
 
6 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 turn to the chief's tent two very pretty 
 ones were brought for our inspection. The 
 man who displayed them interested us more 
 than the rugs, which were the coarse variety 
 made by these nomads, and we offered to 
 buy them if he would let us take his pic- 
 ture. We posed him to our liking, holding 
 a carpet in his hand, but when we adjusted 
 the camera and were about to press the 
 bulb, he turned and fled and no amount of 
 persuasion could induce him to return or 
 any explanation convince him that we had 
 not aimed this deadly instrument directly 
 at his heart with intent to kill. It was 
 here that we first realized that in order to 
 fully understand and appreciate Oriental 
 rugs and kelims, one must not regard them 
 merely as articles of merchandise but must 
 know something of the life and customs of 
 the people among whom they originated. 
 
 The inhabitants of Persia and Turkey in 
 Asia (the countries from which most of 
 our rugs are obtained) were originally 
 nomads like our host. Their tents were 
 
HOW THE RUG IS MADE 7 
 
 made also of camel and goat's hair, stoutly 
 woven and rudely adorned with their tribal 
 signs and symbols. Kelims were used for 
 curtains and they are undoubtedly the 
 earliest product of the Oriental loom. 
 
 Then came what we call hearth rugs, 
 the original purpose of which was to cover 
 the raised bank of earth at the end of the 
 chief's tent. On this he sat in state to 
 receive callers. A guest or a person of 
 high rank was given a seat beside the chief 
 on this rude divan. Those of lesser rank 
 were assigned places on small mats on the 
 earth floor. Prayer kelims and prayer rugs 
 were kept carefully folded and stored in a 
 safe place and were only brought out when 
 required for use. 
 
 When the country became more settled 
 and towns and villages sprung up, the 
 dwellings were (and are still in the Inte- 
 rior) but an evolution of a tent built of mud 
 bricks. Most of them still have only the 
 earth floors. Across the end of the chief 
 room where guests are received, is the 
 
8 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 raised seat of honour, made of wood or piles 
 of felt cushions. Along the two sides of 
 the room, a foot or two lower, run two 
 long, narrow banks or divans where the 
 family and callers of inferior rank sit. For 
 these two long divans are made the rugs 
 which we know in America by the name 
 of runners. They are always made in pairs 
 and come to Constantinople and other dis- 
 tributing centres in sets where they are 
 separated by the wholesale dealers, when 
 they make up the bales for sale to foreign 
 buyers. 
 
 Weaving is one of the most ancient of 
 the arts. It has been the work of women 
 in all times and in all countries until the 
 introduction of the modern factories. 
 Long before Arachne's fabled challenge 
 to Minerva some near descendant of our 
 first Mother, sitting in her rude cave dwell- 
 ing busily plaiting reeds and strips of 
 leather into dress materials, had an inspira- 
 tion: why not substitute for these crude 
 materials, spun fibres? Her struggles to 
 
Section of Antique Herat Rug 
 
HOW THE RUG IS MADE 9 
 
 evolve the spindle upon which to spin 
 the yarn, and the loom upon which to 
 stretch the threads for warp and weft as 
 well as her name are lost in that dim and 
 distant past before History began. 
 
 In the Old Testament there are many 
 references to woven fabrics. So they were 
 not new when Moses fled from Egypt. 
 Rude looms of very much the same form 
 as are used to-day in Turkey, have been 
 found depicted upon the Tombs of Thebes. 
 The ancient Egyptians were noted for 
 their manufacture of fine linen and cloth. 
 Plato mentions one of the most important 
 differences in warp and weft, namely that 
 the threads of the former are strong and 
 firm in consequence of being more twisted 
 in spinning while the weft is softer and 
 more yielding. Among the Greeks and 
 Romans the weaving was always done by 
 women, mainly slaves, but under the su- 
 pervision of the mistress of the household. 
 To her knowledge of the weaver's art 
 Penelope owed her success in beguiling 
 
lo RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 her suitors for twenty years, until the re- 
 turn of her beloved Ulysses. 
 
 In the unchanging East weaving is still 
 with but few exceptions woman's work. 
 In the Interior of Asiatic Turkey and in 
 Persia the patriarchal system still exists 
 and the sons bring their wives home to 
 live. I have known as many as 35 persons 
 to live in one dwelling. The mother-in- 
 law is the Queen of the household and 
 every morning assigns to each woman and 
 girl her task for the day. Life is suffi- 
 ciently simple in these lands to satisfy the 
 most ardent advocate of this method of ex- 
 istence. Some work must be found to fill 
 in the spare hours, and rug making is one 
 of these occupations. The very primitive 
 loom consists simply of two poles driven 
 into the ground parallel to each other, the 
 space between determining the width of 
 the rug. On the top rests a pole or roller 
 which turns in holes bored in the upright 
 poles or rests in deep notches in the ends 
 of the upright rods. To this roller is 
 
Shirvan Rug 
 
HOW THE RUG^^IS MADE n 
 
 fastened the warp threads. The women 
 and girls, down to little tots of five and 
 six years of age, sit before this loom and 
 weave. Each family or tribe has its own 
 pattern, which is so well known by the 
 older members that it is tied in from 
 memory. The younger children at first 
 work only upon the plain background of 
 the rug, tying in one solid colour. This 
 weaving by many hands, and the conse- 
 quent variation in the tying of the knots 
 is one of the reasons why Oriental rugs 
 puff and lie unevenly on the floor. When 
 a girl becomes fairly expert at weaving she 
 is allowed to make a rug entirely alone, 
 and if it is sold, the profit goes to her 
 dowry account. In some of these rugs 
 one can read the working of the girl's 
 mind. At first she ties the knots loosely, 
 making the rug larger at that end than the 
 other. It is evident that she follows the 
 design with difficulty, making frequent 
 mistakes in the colour and position of the 
 figures, or miscounting the knots so that 
 
12 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 the design will not come out quite even. 
 As time goes on she becomes more expert 
 and copies the pattern more exactly and 
 ties the knots tighter; finally toward the 
 end in some cases she ceases to follow 
 mechanically the set pattern. She begins 
 to take interest in her work and to think 
 about what she is doing, and then it often 
 happens that the idea comes to her of im- 
 proving upon or modifying the design in 
 some way. Every rug tells a story of its 
 own to the rug lover who is once fairly 
 initiated into the cabalistic symbols found 
 in Oriental weaving. 
 
 Rugs are divided into two general 
 classes, Turkish and Persian, according as 
 they are tied with the Ghiordes or Turk- 
 ish knot or the Senna or Persian knot. 
 There are some exceptions as to the old 
 rugs which are tied with the Turkish knot 
 and some of the Trans-Caucasian fabrics 
 which are classed under the head of Per- 
 sian rugs. 
 
 A glance at the accompanying illustra- 
 
HOW THE RUG IS MADE 
 
 13 
 
 tion, or better still, a close examination of a 
 Turkish carpet, will explain the difference 
 in the two methods of knot tying. In 
 rugs made with the Turkish knot the 
 yarn is tied in such a manner that the two 
 
 Turkish knot 
 
 Senna knot 
 
 ends which make the pile of the rug alter- 
 nate with every two threads of the warp, 
 thus necessitating a longer pile in order 
 to lap over and cover the two threads of 
 warp. Consequently when the pile is 
 shortened by long wear the warp threads 
 are apt to show and the pattern be indis- 
 tinct. On the other hand the long threads 
 of wool in the Turkish rugs untwist and 
 attain a silken sheen and softness impossi- 
 ble in a rug tied with the Persian or Senna 
 knot. In Persian rugs the knot is tied in 
 
14 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 such a way that between every thread of 
 the warp a strand of yarn obtrudes. This 
 way of weaving makes it possible to cut 
 the ends of the wool closer, it gives the 
 rug a surface resembling velvet in texture 
 which when worn down to the very warp 
 threads leaves intact the colouring and de- 
 sign. More knots can be tied to the 
 square inch in a Persian than a Turkish 
 rug, and consequently a finer and more ex- 
 pensive rug can be made with the Senna 
 knot. One of the tests of value of a mod- 
 ern rug is the number of knots to the 
 square inch. There is one distinguishing 
 sign that marks a rug at a glance as either 
 Turkish or Persian, and that is the general 
 character of the design. The Turkish and 
 Persians are both followers of the Prophet, 
 but they belong to two opposing branches 
 of the Mohammedan faith. 
 
 Between these two sects there is as great 
 a fundamental difference of creed and prac- 
 tice as exists between Catholics and Protes- 
 tants. The Turks belong to the Sunnite or 
 
Kara Osman Oghlou Rug 
 
HOW THE RUG IS MADE 15 
 
 conservative sect and believe that if they 
 make anything in the form of any living 
 creature, in the day of Judgment God will 
 require them to give a soul to the shape 
 they have made. In Turkish homes one 
 never sees upon the walls pictures contain- 
 ing figures of men or animals, and never in 
 a rug of Turkish manufacture. The de- 
 signs are always floral or geometrical. 
 Texts from the Koran written with many 
 flourishes and richly ornamented adorn the 
 walls of Turkish homes, but never pictures 
 of living things. 
 
 The Persians, on the contrary, are Shiites, 
 a more liberal sect allowing customs and 
 practices tabooed by the Sunnites. It 
 seems as if the Persians delighted to flaunt 
 abroad these liberal and progressive ideas, 
 for they put into their rugs in all sorts of 
 ways and places not in the least connected 
 with the design, the forms of men, animals, 
 and birds the like of which can not be 
 duplicated in nature. When one sees these 
 square-legged beasts and impossible winged 
 
i6 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 creatures in a carpet, he need not stop to 
 examine the knot, or study the design to 
 locate the rug. It is Persian and nothing 
 but Persian. It is said that genius requires 
 no tools, and certainly it is easy to believe 
 such a statement when one looks at a beau- 
 tiful Oriental rug and then examines the 
 implements used by the weaver. A knife, 
 a pair of curved scissors, and a comb-like 
 instrument to batten down the pile comprise 
 their tools. These with the inherited deft- 
 ness of fingers and the Oriental genius for 
 colour combination are all that are necessary 
 to create these works of art. The shearing 
 of the pile is most difficult and is the work 
 of one person in a family or neighbourhood. 
 In the rug factories they have a sort of clip- 
 ping machine on the lawn mower principle 
 which is used to shear the rug evenly. 
 
THE WOOL AND ITS 
 PREPARATION 
 
Chapter II 
 
 THE WOOL AND ITS 
 PREPARATION 
 
 A LL the wool used in the textile arts 
 /^ is supplied by artificially bred 
 y m. sheep. It is always in connec- 
 tion with centres of civilization that flocks 
 are spoken of in Ancient History. In 
 Ezekiel mention is made of the white wool 
 that was brought from Damascus to be sold 
 in the fairs of Tyre, previous to its being 
 dyed into the famous Tyrian purple. 
 
 The sheep and goats in Persia and Turkey 
 grow a much finer and more silken fleece 
 than in other countries. Nature seems to 
 have arranged climate, fodder, and other 
 favouring conditions for furnishing the best 
 wool from which to make the rugs that 
 are the chief industry of the inhabitants. 
 
 The combing from the young lambs 
 which once a year shed a fine undergrowth 
 
 19 
 
20 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 of wool together with the wool about the 
 head, and the fleece of lambs sheared for the 
 first time is in Persia called the " Pashim " 
 and in both Persia and Turkey is reserved 
 for the finest rugs. Goat's hair is some- 
 times used, but on account of its wirey na- 
 ture it spins poorly. Upon the goats raised 
 in certain parts of Asia Minor there grows 
 a very silky fleece next to the skin, a sort 
 of an extra winter undergarment. This 
 falls out in the spring and if combed out 
 and saved it makes a very silky carpet. 
 Camel's hair is also largely used, especially 
 in the borders of Hammedan rugs. 
 
 The first step in the preparation of the 
 wool for use is to rid it of all foreign sub- 
 stances. Then it is washed, many times in 
 cold water, not allowing it to dry between 
 washings. It is also frequently covered 
 with a mixture of flour and water and 
 pounded with great wooden mallets, before 
 being thoroughly washed, often times being 
 placed in baskets in a stream of running 
 water. Soft water is always sought for this 
 
Sarahk 
 
PREPARATION OF THE WOOL 21 
 
 purpose. The drying in the sun is the next 
 step, and sometimes the natives wait for 
 weeks for just the best weather, 
 a given amount of wind and sun 
 being deemed the most desira- 
 ble conditions for drying. Once 
 dried, the wool is picked loose 
 by pulling it over steel pins set 
 upright in wooden blocks — but 
 this process tears the fibres and 
 the method preferred and gen- 
 erally used is that employed for 
 cotton. A huge bow made of 
 tough wood and strung with a 
 stout cord or gut, is suspended 
 in the middle from the ceiling 
 so that the cord just touches the 
 heap of wool. The end of the 
 bow is held by the wool picker 
 in his left hand, and in the right 
 hand he holds a large wooden 
 mallet with which he strikes 
 the cord a series of short, sharp 
 blows. The vibration whips the wool 
 
22 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 loose and sends it flying off in the opposite 
 direction from the bow, where it soon 
 makes a great fluffy mound. The wool 
 is always spun before being dyed and 
 the spinning is done on the primitive 
 wooden hand spindle. (See illustration.) 
 One sees the women spinning as they walk 
 along the road, and in the fields. Every 
 spare moment is spent in twirling the 
 spindle. After the wool is spun it is 
 wound into skeins, then hung in lime 
 water for some hours to cleanse it from all 
 superfluous oil. It is then thoroughly 
 washed and hung for a few hours in alum 
 water as a mordant (for that which is to 
 be^ coloured, yellow citric acid replaces the 
 alum in the last bath). Thus the wool 
 is made porous so that it can more easily 
 absorb the colours in boiling. 
 
DYEING 
 
Chapter III 
 DYEING 
 
 DYEING is the crux of the rug 
 question, for upon the combina- 
 tion, lasting quality, softness and 
 brilliancy of the colours rests the final sen- 
 tence upon the merits of any rug. 
 
 Vegetable dyes are a sine qua non in a 
 rug; all other dyes will disappear or 
 change into ugly colours with the test of 
 wear and washing. 
 
 None but colours compounded from 
 vegetable substances will under the magic 
 touch of time soften and blend into the 
 colour symphony that is found in antique 
 rugs. If one prefers to purchase compara- 
 tively new, unworn rugs and to do his own 
 "antiquing" it is of prime importance that 
 the colours be fast and of the kind that will 
 
 25 
 
26 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 soften with age. The unfailing test as to 
 the kind of dye used in any rug is to rub 
 the surface with a cloth moistened with 
 saliva. If the colours are made from any 
 but vegetable dyes they will rub off on the 
 cloth. The chemical properties of the 
 saliva attack all but vegetable dyes and 
 will start the colours which would not be 
 in the least affected by washing with soap 
 and water. Indigo is the only exception 
 to this rule, as that will sometimes with a 
 first rubbing show a trace of colour. A 
 careless glance at an Oriental rug with all 
 its varied tints and shadings would lead one 
 to think that there were many colours em- 
 ployed, but a careful scrutiny will reveal 
 only eight colours: red, blue, yellow, 
 brown, green, black, white, and purple. 
 The varying shades and tints of these fun- 
 damental colours are the secret and art of 
 the Oriental dyer. 
 
 They are produced by varying the mor- 
 dant, longer or shorter cooking with the 
 dyes, dyeing one colour upon another, etc. 
 
11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 9 ^ 
 
 19 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 Samples of Colors obtained from pure vegetable dyes 
 
DYEING 27 
 
 Reds are of two principal kinds, madder 
 and cochineal. Madder gives a. dye of 
 several shades of intensity from light apri- 
 cot, for which the wool must be boiled one 
 hour with the root, to deep rich red which 
 must be boiled for two days. 
 
 " Worm red bugs," as they are called in 
 Turkey, are pounded fine and boiled with 
 the wool. One hour's cooking produces a 
 light pink, three hours' a deeper red, and 
 two days' a grand red, rich and deep but 
 too expensive to be used in commercial 
 rugs. Fuel is scarce in these countries; 
 wood is sold by the pound, and to cook 
 anything two days means a heavy outlay. 
 In the majority of rugs made nowadays 
 for the trade only the lighter shades are 
 used, requiring but a few moments' cooking. 
 Although they appear bright and pretty 
 now, ten years of wear will make them 
 practically white. The beautiful light 
 colours in antique rugs are the results of 
 the softening process of time, but the 
 colours were strong to begin with. 
 
28 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Blue is made with the essence of the 
 Indigo plant raised in India. Into vats 
 usually about five feet square is put some 
 soured moist indigo, several pounds of mo- 
 lasses, and a little lime for a mordant. The 
 vat is then filled up with warm water and 
 the wool hung in it until it takes on the 
 desired shade of blue. 
 
 Yellow is made principally with the 
 green " Jahra " tree berries and the softer 
 shades by boiling with onion skins. Turm- 
 eric and saffron are also used, especially 
 in Persia. The turmeric is not of itself a 
 fast colour, but used in combination with 
 the other dyes produces a special tint of 
 yellow. 
 
 Green is obtained by dipping the wool 
 that has been dyed yellow into the indigo 
 vat. The husks of green walnuts also give 
 a green dye. 
 
 Old or ivory-tinted white is made by 
 boiling the wool with gall nuts, pomegran- 
 ate rind, or oak bark. By this process it 
 is literally tanned. 
 
$f^' \ \ili^\kV\'-'' 
 
 Section of Old Daghestan Rug 
 
DYEING 29 
 
 Black is the cheapest of all dyes, being 
 obtained from iron filings steeped in vine- 
 gar or pomegranate rinds. Black, whether 
 dyed or obtained from the wool of black 
 sheep, is to be avoided, for whether natural 
 or dyed it rots easily and is always the first 
 colour to wear off on a rug. Never buy a 
 rug with a black ground, for its years of 
 wear are limited, and when all the other 
 parts of the rug are in good condition the 
 black will have vanished. 
 
 Purple dyes are still obtained from 
 the sea moUusks used in the "old Tyrian 
 dyes. 
 
 Camel's hair is the natural colour of the 
 hair and comes in two shades, a light and 
 a dark tan. Wool is also dyed to imitate 
 the camel's hair and used in many rugs to 
 replace the real article. — Dyeing is a much 
 esteemed profession in the Orient and the 
 men who are skilled in producing beauti- 
 ful shades are persons of great importance 
 in the community. They can be easily 
 distinguished from their fellow citizens as 
 
30 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 they walk through the town, for they never 
 remove the marks of their trade from hands 
 or clothing, regarding these signs of theil 
 craft much as Frenchmen would the insig- 
 nia of the Legion of Honour. As pure soft 
 water is so essential to successful dyeing, 
 many villages, the inhabitants of which 
 are all employed in this work, are situated 
 about a suitable water-course. It is a curi- 
 ous sight as you approach such a village. 
 The flat roofs of the tawny adobe houses 
 will be covered as by an extra story with 
 the frames, from which are suspended the 
 skeins of bright-coloured yarn. In one such 
 village that I visited nothing but red was 
 dyed and it can easily be imagined what a 
 blotch of colour such a town would make 
 in the landscape on a fair day. Sunshine 
 is an especially important factor in the dye- 
 ing of red, and the master dyer will watch 
 the sun and feel of his skeins of yarn, pac- 
 ing back and forth on the flat roof. When 
 a certain state has been reached the yarn is 
 removed as quickly as possible, for too 
 
Ferehan Rug. Loaned by Liberty & Co. 
 
DYEING 31 
 
 long exposure might change or mar the 
 shade for which he is famous. 
 
 The reason why in many Oriental rugs 
 there will be a streak differing in colour 
 from the main background or a different 
 shade of the same colour, is because they 
 mix only a certain quantity of dye at a 
 time, and when the wool dyed at that time 
 is all exhausted that obtained in the next 
 dyeing may vary a trifle in the shade, or all 
 the wool being used, and not wishing to 
 wait for more to be dyed, they substitute 
 another colour. This is no blemish in a 
 rug from an Oriental point of view. It 
 has been sometimes asserted that this streak 
 of colour was purposely inserted to keep off 
 the "evil eye" so much dreaded in the East. 
 I do not think that is true, for a rosette 
 of wool resembling an eye with pupil and 
 iris of different colours is woven into the 
 borders of rugs and kelims, or a tuft of 
 wool with a blue bead upon it worked into 
 the fabric. Blue is the colour employed in 
 the Orient to counteract all evil influences. 
 
32 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Every horse, camel, donkey or buffalo 
 wears a string of blue beads around the 
 neck if the owner can afford them, or, if 
 too poor to provide such a necklace, a few 
 blue beads will be tied into the mane or 
 tail of the animal or attached to the head- 
 stall. Every person in the interior of 
 Turkey carries what is called an evil eye 
 to ward off calamities. This talisman is a 
 flat disk of blue glass pierced at the back 
 to allow it to be strung and worn about 
 the neck if desired. In the centre on the 
 front is painted an eye in black, white, and 
 yellow, and it is the imitation of this eye 
 which is so often seen on rugs and kelims. 
 
 Samples of colours obtained from pure 
 Vegetable dyes. 
 
 1. Pure cochineal, called in Turkey worm red. Very 
 
 expensive. 
 
 2. Cochineal and madder root. 
 
 3. Cochineal and gall nuts. 
 
 4. Gall nuts and cochineal cooked together. 
 
 5. Cochineal cooked one hour. 
 
 6. Cochineal and indigo. Very expensive. 
 
DYEING 33 
 
 7. Pure madder root cooked 3 days. Very expensive. 
 
 8. Pure madder root (brick red). 
 
 9. Onion skins cooked 2 hours. 
 
 10. Onion skins cooked many hours make a beautiful 
 
 golden sheen. 
 
 11. Gall nuts. 
 
 12. Indigo and Jahra berry. 
 
 13. Indigo and gall nuts. 
 
 14. Gall nuts, then onion skins, then indigo. 
 
 15. Pomegranate rind. 
 
 16. Walnut husks. 
 
 17. Pure indigo. 
 
 18. Indigo hung in vat one half hour. 
 
 19. Indigo hung in vat one hour. 
 
 20. Indigo hung in vat two hours. 
 
DOCTORED RUGS 
 
C H AFTER IV 
 
 DOCTORED RUGS 
 
 A S there are tricks in all trades, so 
 /% there are many in the preparation 
 ^ ^_ of Oriental rugs for the Western 
 market, but it is not the people who make 
 the rugs that doctor them. It is done at 
 Constantinople and by the Armenian col- 
 lectors in the interior. The process is 
 called by the innocent name of washing, 
 but that does not mean as one would 
 naturally suppose, cleansing them with 
 soap and water. Upon slightly inclined 
 platforms the new rugs (often coloured with 
 vegetable dyes but of bright tints such as 
 the Orientals love) are spread out. From 
 vats at the top of these platforms a solution 
 of chlorine water is allowed to trickle over 
 
 the surface of the rugs until the bright 
 
 37 
 
38 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 colours have been toned down to resemble 
 the hues of an antique carpet. Rugs so 
 treated have a harsh feeling and half of 
 their, years of service have been subtracted 
 by this process. 
 
 It is easy to detect rugs so treated, for 
 only the face of the carpet is faded and a 
 glance at the back w^ill reveal the colours 
 several shades darker. Often a deep red 
 at the back w^ill appear a light pink on the 
 surface of the rug. 
 
 I was astonished when in New York a 
 short time ago to be frankly told by the 
 head of one of the largest rug houses in 
 that city that nearly all their large and 
 some of the small rugs were now chemi- 
 cally washed. This work is now done in 
 America by trained chemists and the re- 
 sults obtained are much more satisfactory 
 than by the primitive methods employed 
 in Turkey. 
 
 When I exclaimed in astonishment, 
 " But that destroys half the life of a rug, 
 and it ceases to be a work of art after such 
 
Antique 
 
DOCTORED RUGS 39 
 
 treatment," the gentleman replied : " Our 
 customers do not care for that. They can 
 afford a new carpet every year if they 
 choose to have it, and the carpets so treated 
 can be toned to match any colour scheme 
 in the furnishing of a room." Would 
 these same persons purchase and wear imi- 
 tation gems coloured to match their gowns ? 
 To the rug lover and student it seems 
 equally vulgar to purchase aoctored rugs. 
 
 Reflecting another phase of the question is 
 the following extract from a letter recently 
 received from the head of one rug-making 
 establishment in the Orient, He says : 
 
 " My heart is no longer in this work, 
 for the present demand is for modern 
 styles. Silly patterns, a fuzzy mixture of 
 flowers meandering around on a medallion 
 field, coloured in the little-cooked dyes 
 which can be sold quickly to the Mrs. 
 Newly Riches." 
 
 The exquisite silken sheen on some of 
 the old rugs is chiefly due to the untwist- 
 ing of the wool resulting from the friction 
 
40 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 caused by contact with the woollen stock- 
 ings that summer or winter the natives 
 wear upon their feet. The yarn from 
 which these stockings are knit is very 
 tightly twisted and harsh. In the Orient 
 every one removes his shoes or sandals 
 upon entering the house and only the 
 stockings come in contact with the rugs. 
 This friction of the rough woollen stocking 
 polishes, as it were, the surface of the rug 
 and gives it a beautiful silken sheen. 
 
 An artificial gloss is given by the rug 
 doctorers in Constantinople by dampening 
 the surface first with a solution of glycerine 
 water and then ironing with very hot irons. 
 
 In Turkey when rugs become soiled 
 from long use or accident, they place them 
 on the floor or the stone paved court, pour 
 over just enough tepid water to wet the 
 surface, then with purecastile soap (which 
 is very cheap in the East) they make a 
 lather which they rub well into the rugs 
 with the hands, then they rinse by pouring 
 water of the same temperature as was used 
 
Antique Kulah Rug. Loaned by Liberty & Co. 
 
DOCTORED RUGS 41 
 
 with the soap over them, beginning at the 
 top and with their hands scraping off the 
 soap and dirt until the bottom is reached. 
 If the rug is not quite clean the operation 
 is repeated and it is rinsed until the water 
 runs off clear ; then it is hung over poles, 
 preferably in a shady place, to dry ; a little 
 milk is sometimes rubbed over the surface 
 after the last rinsing to restore the natural 
 oil to the wool. The rug is always washed 
 with the pile, never against it. 
 
 The toning process used by the Rug Syndicate of Smyrna 
 has been developed and perfected to such an extent that neither 
 warp nor woof is injured by the process and the colours are just 
 as fast as those toned by time. Even exposure to the sun will 
 not change them. The toning solution is sprinkled over the 
 carpets by means of a great hose, and then the carpets are 
 washed in clear water and when slightly dried ironed by steam- 
 heated rollers. 
 
DESIGN 
 
Chapter V 
 DESIGN 
 
 r"* would be an impossible task to trace 
 the origin of design back to its source. 
 It is as old as the imagination of 
 man. All primitive peoples have had 
 their picture writing, their own tribal 
 and religious symbols. One can easily 
 fancy how upon the approach of cold 
 weather the early inhabitants of the earth 
 sought refuge in protected caves and 
 that some sort of skin was used to close 
 the entrance to keep out the wind. It is 
 also easy to fancy that in the long shut-in 
 days before the return of warm weather 
 these cave dwellers might have ornamented 
 the curtains with various rude designs, pos- 
 sibly of plant or leaf forms with which 
 
 they were familiar, or scenes from the chase. 
 
 45 
 
46 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 In Turkey the courtyard upon which the 
 house opens is frequently paved with small 
 stones laid in a pattern, using black pebbles 
 to work out a design. In the interior of 
 the Island of Rhodes the one large room 
 of the house is paved in this way and a 
 regular rug design is worked out with the 
 black and white pebbles. These stone 
 carpets last from generation to generation 
 and are of very ancient origin. I saw one 
 that was over three hundred years old. 
 Rugs are stories written in all the dialects 
 of the world of imagination and tradition, 
 but there is no Rosetta stone by which to 
 decipher them, and even the weavers who 
 make them cannot read their story. It is 
 only by comparison and patient study that 
 we are able to trace a few of these signs 
 and symbols to the lands from which they 
 came and discover some of the traditions 
 and associations connected with them. 
 One might almost say that in early times 
 the weavers used as a main design what to 
 them stood for religious or tribal traditions. 
 
Lesghian Strip 
 
DESIGN 47 
 
 colour and form each having its own signi- 
 ficance. This accomplished, free rein was 
 given to the fancy in filling in the vacant 
 spaces. The Persians usually employed for 
 this purpose a tracery of flower or cloud 
 and star forms. The nomad tribes used 
 less graceful and more angular designs. 
 Through wars, pilgrimages, and conquest 
 the symbols of different tribes, religions, 
 and countries have become mingled and 
 commingled in a most curious way. The 
 origin of some of the figures is easily dis- 
 covered as that of the lily of the Nile 
 which has travelled so far and been so 
 frequently copied in stone and textiles. 
 We find many Mongolian designs in Orien- 
 tal rugs. These are largely due to the mis- 
 sionary zeal of an early successor of the 
 Prophet who sent out four Moslem mission- 
 aries to China to preach the true faith in 
 that part of the world. These men found 
 that the Chinese manufactured paper and 
 upon their return to Arabia brought back 
 with them Chinese artizans to introduce- 
 
48 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 this industry into their own country. The 
 Chinese naturally employed the designs 
 with which they were familiar, and these 
 designs were carried by the Mohammedan 
 conquest into Persia, The name of Alex- 
 ander the Great is usually associated with 
 wars and conquest, yet in the transmission 
 of design he was a veritable honeybee 
 carrying the pollen of ideas and patterns 
 from one land to another ; for example, 
 what inspiration and new material for the 
 textile weavers must have been the spoils 
 from the treasures of Darius that Alexander 
 and his soldiers brought away with them. 
 The art of weaving came to its culmination 
 in Persia in the sixteenth century during 
 the reign of Shah Abbas, and a favourite 
 floral design of that period bears his name. 
 In many of the rugs woven at that time 
 and copied extensively since is a figure 
 which has been commonly credited as 
 being a reproduction of the leaf of the lotus 
 plant ; according to an Eastern legend the 
 origin of this design is an interesting story. 
 
Kirman Rug. Loaned by Liberty & Co. 
 
DESIGN 49 
 
 The eldest son of Shah Abbas, impatient 
 to occupy the throne, plotted against his 
 father's life. His evil designs being dis- 
 covered, he took refuge in the royal stable 
 beside his father's favourite horse. Fearing 
 he w^ould harm the valuable animal if 
 attempt were made to capture him. Shah 
 Abbas inimediately granted his pardon. 
 In memory of this deliverance, the horse- 
 shoe w^as woven into all the rugs made for 
 him. The resemblance between this horse- 
 shoe and a lily pad may not be evident to 
 those who have not lived in the East, but 
 it is no mystery to those who have seen the 
 flat metal plate used there to protect the 
 feet of the horses. They are the size and 
 shape of the bottom of a horse's hoof, 
 covering the entire surface with only a 
 tiny hole in the centre for ventilation. 
 Draw the outline of the bottom of a horse's 
 hoof and you have a form closely resem- 
 bling the leaf of the lotus lily. This story 
 is also an example of the high regard in 
 which the Oriental holds his horses. Colour 
 
50 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 also had a language of its own and symbol- 
 ized a definite thing to the ancients, as blue 
 represented immortality to the Egyptians. 
 It is related that when Athena wove into 
 the sky the enchanting picture of flowers 
 and gardens, mountain heights and the 
 mighty beings who dwelt in the clouds 
 with Jupiter, she took for her materials and 
 colours the golden sunbeams that gilded the 
 mountain top, the snowy fleece of the sum- 
 mer clouds, the blue ether of the summer 
 sky, the bright green of the summer fields, 
 and the royal purple of the autumn woods. 
 The early weavers in the East, the land of 
 the Arabian nights so full of imagery, may 
 have had some such poetic vision which 
 enabled them to combine the varying shades 
 of a few colours in so marvellous a manner 
 as to make exquisite pictures out of the 
 common forms of life about them. 
 
BUYING RUGS IN THE ORIENT 
 
Chapter VI 
 BUYING RUGS IN THE ORIENT 
 
 IN Constantinople and Smyrna there 
 are shops in the bazaars where one 
 can purchase rugs in the same way as 
 in America. But the tourist must be pre- 
 pared to be charged double or treble their 
 value. These same dealers, if they know 
 you and know that you are conversant 
 with the market value of the rugs, will sell 
 for a reasonable price the same piece for 
 which they would demand the exorbitant 
 price from a tourist. This is partly due to 
 the large commissions the dealers have to 
 pay the guides, and these guides naturally 
 take their clients to the shops where they 
 can get the largest fees. So the tourist is 
 literally " between the upper and the nether 
 
 millstone." 
 
 53 
 
54 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 I have seen rugs sold on the tourist 
 steamers that come to Constantinople for 
 prices twice and three times greater than I 
 could purchase the same piece of the same 
 dealers in the bazaar. 
 
 Some friends of mine went with a guest 
 to one of the largest and finest rug stores in 
 Stambul and were looking at some carpets. 
 They were very naturally discussing the 
 relative merits of the different rugs in Eng- 
 lish (the salesman also spoke English). 
 They had not been there long when the 
 proprietor of the store passed through the 
 room and said in Turkish to the salesman : 
 " Double the prices, they are Americans and 
 can afford to pay." One of the party, who 
 was as much at home in the Turkish as 
 the English language, immediately replied : 
 " We may be Americans but we do not 
 propose on that account to pay more than 
 the proper value for the rugs that we pur- 
 chase." The astonishment of the dealer 
 can be easily imagined. 
 
 Just before the tourist season in February 
 
Section of Old Kazak Rug 
 
BUYING RUGS IN THE ORIENT 55 
 
 and March, nearly everything for sale in 
 the bazaars is marked at double its former 
 price. The buyers for the large American 
 and European houses who visit Constanti- 
 nople annually are quite at the mercy of 
 their interpreters for none of them that I 
 have ever met can speak Turkish. In addi- 
 tion to their Greek or Jewish interpreter 
 they usually have some local agent who has 
 been collecting for them during their ab- 
 sence. Very few of these buyers ever go 
 into the interior and if they did, they would 
 again be at the mercy of their interpreter 
 who could openly arrange with the man 
 from whom they were purchasing for a 
 most liberal commission and the buyer be 
 none the wiser. There are choice old rugs 
 still to be had in the interior of Turkey 
 and Persia but they are mostly in Turkish 
 houses and in the mosques and the men 
 who do collect in the interior are Armenians 
 and they have no access to the mosques and 
 can seldom get into the Turkish houses. 
 They wait their opportunity, however, and 
 
56 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 take advantage of any change of fortune in 
 a Turkish, family to pick up here and there 
 most of the choice rugs that are sent 
 to Constantinople. Any one who has had 
 commercial dealings with any member of 
 the Armenian race will easily understand 
 that between the prices that they pay for 
 these rugs in the interior and the prices 
 they demand from the wholesale dealers is 
 a great difference, and this difference plus 
 the wholesale dealers' profits is charged to 
 the Western buyer. These Armenian col- 
 lectors will take rugs that they purchase 
 for a trifle and that seem in a hopeless state 
 of decay; and they will deftly substitute 
 new wool in the place of that which has 
 vanished, paint up the faded spots, and other- 
 wise rejuvenate the rug in such a skilful 
 manner as to deceive the very elect. 
 
 No race on the face of the earth has 
 the capacity and skill for trade of the 
 Armenian. Except in the port cities in 
 Turkey there are no regular rug stores. 
 One must collect from the houses, the baths. 
 

 Hammedan Rug, 
 
BUYING RUGS IN THE ORIENT 57 
 
 and from travellers. PersianSj particularly 
 at the season of the year when the pilgrim- 
 age to Mecca is made, start from their 
 homes with but little ready money and de- 
 pend upon the sale of the half dozen rugs 
 they take with them for their expenses. 
 Often word would be brought to me that 
 there were some travellers or pilgrims in 
 the village khan. I would go and inter- 
 view them and some of my choicest rugs 
 have been purchased in this way. Again 
 from families who were moving or from 
 a stray caravan which was transporting rugs 
 as a return cargo to the coast, and from 
 the mosques I obtained many choice pieces. 
 It has been asserted that there are no fine 
 rugs left in the mosques, but I have seen 
 them five deep upon the floor and have 
 purchased all I could afford of these lovely 
 pieces. It is still the custom in the interior 
 for a Turk who has had some special bless- 
 ing to give a rug to the mosque as a thank 
 offering; or when he dies to bequeath a 
 carpet to the mosque where he has wor- 
 
58 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 shipped. Knowing the Turks well and 
 speaking their language and being known 
 as a friend, I was allowed to go where I 
 chose, into mosques and everywhere. One 
 day we were taking our usual outing on 
 horseback and were passing through a dirty 
 little village of mud houses, not one of 
 which contained a pane of glass (oiled 
 papef being pasted over the apertures that 
 served as windows, when the winter season 
 came). Just as we were leaving a boy came 
 running toward us and spoke to the cavass, 
 who turned his horse about and said to me : 
 "This boy says that in the mosque here there 
 is a fine rug and that they wish to sell it 
 as the building needs repairing a nd the^ 
 have no money." We retraced our steps 
 and dismounted before the gate that lead 
 into the mosque inclosure. There seated 
 cross-legged by the door was the white- 
 turbaned Imam (priest) with his school 
 children, little boys and girls, on either side. 
 He arose and salaamed and conducted us 
 into the mosque. It was a bare room with 
 
Section of Sumac Rug 
 
BUYING RUGS IN THE ORIENT 59 
 
 a few ragged kelims on the floor, but before 
 the altar was a splendid bit of colour, and 
 when he took it up and brought it into the 
 light it proved to be a most exquisite sara- 
 band. Striving hard to conceal our delight, 
 we called attention to two small holes in 
 one end and asked the price. When he said 
 $12 we had not the courage to follow the 
 usual custom and bargain for a lower figure. 
 The Armenian who repaired it offered me 
 $50 for it, saying he would send it to his 
 brother in New York who would get $125 
 for it without any trouble. 
 
CARPET RUGS 
 
Chapter VII 
 CARPET RUGS 
 
 THE word "carpet" comes from the 
 Latin word "carpere," to pluck, 
 from the plucking or shearing of 
 the wool from the sheep. The earliest use 
 of carpets in Europe was for table and bed 
 covers, the first being made in Venice ; and 
 it was not until early in 1700 that they 
 were manufactured in England and then 
 only for the rich. They were considered 
 articles of great luxury, hence the term 
 " Carpet Knight " for one who enjoyed 
 ease and luxury and had not known the 
 hardships of battle. In the Orient, with 
 the exception of some large rugs made for 
 the palaces of Shahs, Sultans, rich Pashas, 
 or mosques, there were originally no rugs of 
 
 the size to be used as a carpet in the West- 
 
 63 
 
64 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 ern meaning of the word. The antique 
 rugs come in sizes three by six and four by 
 seven, etc., — what we call hearth rug sizes, 
 or the long, narrow strips known as runners. 
 Prayer rugs were of various dimensions but 
 generally small for private use or for use in 
 the mosques. To meet the demand of West- 
 ern buyers, factories have recently been es- 
 tablished in Persia and Turkey where carpets 
 of all sizes are made. In Persian carpets 
 the Muskabads, Ghorevans, and Khorrasans 
 are the cheaper grades though excellent in 
 quality and very durable, especially the 
 Muskabads and Ghorevans. The Tabriz , 
 Kirman and Kirmanshas are the finest 
 Persian rugs made in carpet size s. 
 
 Turkish rugs in carpet sizes generally go 
 under the name of Smyrna rugs, although 
 the typical red, blue, and green Smyrna 
 rug with its long, heavy pile, which is prin- 
 cipally used in America in hotel lobbies 
 and reading rooms, is only one of an infi- 
 nite variety of rugs that are shipped from 
 Smyrna, Sparta, Oushaks, and a great va- 
 
Ghiordes Rug, Modern, No. I 
 
CARPET RUGS 65 
 
 riety of rugs under as great a variety of 
 names are made in the outlying towns and 
 districts of Smyrna. No rugs are made in 
 the city itself, but the firms who own and 
 control the output of these rug factories 
 have their warehouses and offices in 
 Smyrna. The best wool and vegetable dyes 
 are used in the manufacture of these car- 
 pets, and one can have them made to order 
 in any size. Most exquisite reproductions 
 of old Persian patterns can be ordered with 
 the certainty in the majority of cases of 
 most satisfactory results. With one ex- 
 ception the manufacturers of these Turkish 
 rugs in and around Smyrna have lately 
 combined to form a Syndicate. This 
 Company (The Oriental Manufacturer's 
 Limited) was formed in 1907 and began 
 operations in 1908. It is the amalgama- 
 tion of six firms engaged in the carpet 
 trade, five of which were established in the 
 Smyrna region and the sixth in London. 
 It was capitalized at two million dollars. 
 Through this combination of interests and 
 
66 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 capital the carpet industry has been rein- 
 troduced in the districts of Asia Minor 
 where it was formerly carried on but had 
 ceased to exist, if not entirely, at least as a 
 regular industry. By a more careful selec- 
 tion of the wool used in the manufacture 
 and by the employment of none but the 
 most solid dyes they are able to reproduce 
 in artistic colouring and weaving the finest 
 designs of Persia, India, and Anatolia. The 
 spinning and dyeing of the yarns by the 
 company in its own factories ensures the 
 best quality of yarn and the most perma- 
 nent and pure dyes. They own and con- 
 trol at present four to five thousand looms 
 in about thirty villages and towns in Asia 
 Minor. They employ twenty to twenty- 
 five thousand women and children who 
 weave the rugs and a large number of men 
 who attend to the washing of the wool 
 and the spinning and dyeing of the yarn. 
 In some of these factories carpets and rugs 
 are woven equal to the Persian makes in 
 fineness of texture and even surpassing them 
 
CARPET RUGS 67 
 
 as regards colour, and their carpets have a 
 deservedly high place in the foremost 
 ranks of Oriental textile fabrics. At Har- 
 put, in the Province of Mamouret-ul-Aziz,- 
 the girls in the American Orphanage under 
 the direction of an expert and conscien- 
 tious superintendent are making rugs of 
 great merit. The dyes employed are vege- 
 table and strictly fast, the vs^ool is of the 
 best quality, and one can have any design 
 copied in almost any size. 
 
 Plate No. I. shows an old Ghiordes de- 
 sign w^hich was copied for me there. 
 
 Beautiful rugs are also made in large 
 sizes at Sivas and by the Germans at 
 Urfa. 
 
 CARPETS 
 
 The first carpet of which there is any 
 authentic record is the one that was taken 
 by the Arabs in 637 a. d. from the winter 
 palace of the Persian or Sassanian Kings at 
 Ctesiphon on the Tigris River eighteen or 
 twenty miles from Bagdad. The exact date 
 
68 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 of its manufacture is not known, but it was 
 made for Khoaru I, who was a contemporary 
 of the Greek Emperor Justinian and whose 
 reign lasted from 531 to 579. In the East 
 the gardens are divided into square and 
 oblong plots surrounded by a wide border. 
 These plots are intersected by paths, some 
 of which serve to carry the water by which 
 the garden is irrigated. Frequently these 
 shallow irrigating ditches are paved with 
 tiles. This earliest of carpets was intended 
 to bring into the winter home of the King 
 the illusion of a Persian garden in the full 
 beauty of springtime. The materials were 
 costly ; silk, gold, silver and precious stones 
 were employed. It was of colossal size. 
 The flowers in the border and plots were 
 in many colours — red, blue, yellow, white, 
 and green — and were made of precious 
 stones. The stalks and stems were of gold 
 and silver. The yellow colour of the soil 
 was imitated in gold, and crystal-clear stones 
 represented the flowing water. The gravel 
 paths were made of precious stones and 
 
(f •*» 
 
 J^ -- - - 
 
 ^^V[7'/r" ?Tf!fi 
 
 gHML.^ 
 
 
 3> - 
 
 
 
 
 Antique Ghiordes Rug. Loaned by Liberty & Co. 
 
CARPET RUGS 69 
 
 pearls and the fruit of gems. It was valued 
 at $775,000. The Arab Commander-in- 
 chief consulted his armies as to the dispo- 
 sition of this gigantic carpet, and it was 
 agreed to send it to Medina for the resi- 
 dence of the Caliph Omar. It was ac- 
 cordingly sent, but instead of keeping it or 
 giving it as an offering to some sacred 
 mosque, he included it with the other 
 treasures from Ctesiphon in the booty of 
 the army and, contrary to all expectation, 
 ordered it to be cut into separate pieces 
 and divided among the soldiers, and it was 
 thus lost to the world. Fortunately a 
 happier fate awaited the famous Mosque of 
 Ardebil carpet which was made in 1535 
 for the mosque whose name it bears. 
 After a period of prolonged wars and 
 struggles in Persia Shah Ismail came to 
 the throne in 1502. Persian historians 
 delight to dwell upon his character for 
 they deem him not only the founder of a 
 dynasty, but the one who established as a 
 national religion the true faith of the 
 
70 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Prophet. He is styled the King of Shahs 
 and during his reign tranquillity and peace 
 were restored to the country and the arts 
 were revived. His ancestors were regarded 
 as holy men, some as saints, and the mosque 
 of Ardebil was built near their tombs, that 
 of his father being specially venerated as 
 he was slain at Shirvan in an attempt to 
 avenge the capture and death of his father; 
 hence he was regarded as a martyr as well 
 as a saint. The Mohammedans have in 
 the Koran almost an exact translation of 
 the tenth verse of the sixteenth Psalm, 
 "Neither wilt Thou suffer Thine holy 
 One to see corruption," and they believe 
 that the bodies of those who have lived 
 the life of a Holy devotee will be miracu- 
 lously preserved from decay. The tombs 
 therefore of such men are much venerated, 
 and frequently mosques are built over or 
 in the same inclosure with them. Pil- 
 grimages are made to them and miracles 
 of healing are believed to be wrought by 
 bringing the sick to pray at these holy 
 
CARPET RUGS 71 
 
 places. I have frequently seen the sick 
 carried on litters to these shrines; at the 
 head of the tomb (usually a walled-in 
 mound) stands one or more cypress trees, 
 the lower branches of these trees will be 
 covered with narrow strips of cloth tied 
 into them by the pilgrims in the full faith 
 that whatever they wish for when they 
 tie on this bit of rag will be granted in 
 the near or distant future, according as 
 there are few or many knots made in 
 fastening it to the tree, yet there must be 
 sufficient to hold, for it would be fatal to 
 their desires if this bit of rag should blow 
 away. The graves at Ardebil were such as 
 these, sacred places, and to honour them 
 the mosque was built by Ismail. It was, 
 however, in the reign of his son and succes- 
 sor Tamasp that the famous carpet was 
 made. At the time of its manufacture it 
 was deemed the most remarkable product 
 that had ever come from the weavers' loom, 
 and those who have looked upon it after 
 the lapse of four centuries will, I am sure. 
 
72 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 readily accord it this high meed of praise. 
 It was this carpet which during the reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth nearly caused a diplo- 
 matic rupture between England and Persia. 
 The Queen sent an envoy to the Persian 
 Government, and he was so offended by 
 what he considered the insulting treatment 
 he received that he was about to go away 
 without delivering his message. The cause 
 of all the trouble was a pair of slippers that 
 were sent to him with the request that 
 he put them on over his shoes when he 
 entered the mosque before stepping upon 
 the sacred carpet. This he interpreted to 
 mean that his Christian feet must not touch 
 the holy carpet, and did not realize that it 
 was (and is to this day) the custom in the 
 Orient to either remove the shoes or cover 
 them with slippers upon entering a mosque, 
 not because the feet are those of a Christian, 
 but to prevent the sacred place from being 
 polluted by the dirt and dust that might 
 adhere to the shoes worn in the street, and 
 that Mohammedans as well as Christians 
 

 Antique Persian Prayer Rug 
 
CARPET RUGS 73 
 
 are required to remove their shoes upon 
 entering a mosque. The Ardebil carpet is 
 thirty-six feet long by seventeen feet six 
 inches w^ide. The ground is a rich blue, 
 covered w^ith a floral tracery of exquisite 
 delicacy. In the centre there is a large 
 medallion of pale yellow^, its outer edge ter- 
 minating in sixteen minaret-shaped points, 
 connected with w^hich by a leaf-like design 
 are sixteen small medallion-shaped figures 
 w^hich represent the seed pod of the w^ild 
 Persian rose cut in half; four are red, four 
 green, and eight cream. From tw^o of these 
 figures on either side are suspended tw^o 
 mosque lamps which hang in each end of 
 the carpet (two such lamps of almost identi- 
 cal design belonging to J. Pierpont Morgan 
 are to be seen in an adjacent room). The 
 crowning point of interest is the pale cream 
 cartouche just within the border ; on one 
 end it contains the following inscription in 
 bold characters. — "I have no refuge in the 
 world other than Thy threshold. My head 
 has no protection other than this porchway. 
 
74 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 The work of the slave of this Holy place, 
 Maksuod of Kashan, in the year of the 
 Hegira 946 (1540 a. d.) " — In the corner 
 are quarter sections of the centre medallion ; 
 a narrow band of crimson covered with 
 floral designs forms the first of the border 
 series, then comes a band of cream about 
 7 inches wide containing a variation of the 
 cloud pattern in beautiful shading. The 
 broad or main border is of rich brown in 
 which are set alternating elongated and 
 rounded cartouches filled with floral and 
 geometrical tracery, the former on a red 
 ground, the latter on a green. The outer 
 border is in tan shading from dark to light, 
 relieved by a bold design in blue. When 
 the carpet was brought to England it was 
 in such a tattered condition as to be un- 
 marketable, the borders being so badly 
 damaged. The owner hearing that a du- 
 plicate of the same in size and colouring 
 was in Ardebil, had it sent on and, taking 
 from it the border, restored the mosque 
 carpet to its present perfect condition. It 
 
CARPET RUGS 75 
 
 was purchased for the South Kensington 
 Museum through the instrumentality of 
 Mr. William Morris. The second carpet 
 was after some years provided with other 
 and foreign borders and sold to a wealthy 
 American collector. It formed part of the 
 Yerkes collection recently sold in New 
 York. 
 
 In the Kaiser Frederick Museum at 
 Berlin is a carpet of peculiar interest on 
 account of the date of weaving as well as 
 the unusual design. The centre medallion 
 takes up nearly the whole width of the 
 rug and is filled with flying cranes between 
 bands of clouds. This representation of 
 cranes is most unusual in Persian rugs, and 
 suggests Chinese influence. The red ground 
 of the medallion is in exquisite harmony 
 with the white ground of the carpet on 
 which is portrayed a wood filled with all 
 sorts of animals — panthers, bulls, stags, 
 jackals, etc. The trees are cypress, medlars, 
 plane, and almond. In the corners, which, 
 alas, have been cut off along with the end 
 
76 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 borders, are to be seen the lower portion 
 of figures in long garments reaching to the 
 feet, such as are worn to-day in the East. 
 The shoes worn by these men have soles 
 shaped like the Chinese shoes. In the 
 corners under the figures are three balls, 
 which show the carpet to be very old, for 
 they are the coat of arms, so to speak, of 
 Timur the conqueror. Gonzales de Clarijo, 
 who, as Ambassador of the Shah, visited 
 Timur in 1404, noted that his tents, horses, 
 shields, and flags all bore these balls, and 
 these insignia were not used by his suc- 
 cessors later than about 1535. 
 
 PRAYER RUGS 
 
 It is said that Mahomet, in the form of 
 prayer which he devised for his followers, 
 had in view the necessity of physical exer- 
 cises for the health of the body as well as 
 devotions for the good of the soul. If this 
 be true, he certainly succeeded admirably, 
 for the genuflections and prostrations and 
 the rising from these postures without any 
 
""^'^ 
 
 Antique Saraband Rug 
 
CARPET RUGS 77 
 
 aid from the hands is certainly an excellent 
 set of exercises to keep the body supple 
 and to increase the circulation. Five times 
 each day the Mohammedan prays upon 
 a carpet, kelim, or clean bit of cloth. 
 Special prayer rugs for this purpose are 
 found in every make. The prayer niche is 
 always placed to point toward Mecca, and 
 when the follower of the Prophet touches 
 his forehead to the earth or floor he likes 
 to have it rest upon the octagonal bit of 
 clay from the holy city of Mecca which is 
 placed in the niche. 
 
 One frequently sees, as in the accom- 
 panying illustration, an octagon outlined in 
 the pattern in the prayer niche upon which 
 to place this bit of sacred earth. Every 
 Moslem performs certain ablutions before 
 saying his prayers, cleansing hands, face, 
 feet, mouth, etc., and always combs his 
 beard if he has one. Combs such as are 
 used in the Orient are sometimes in or 
 near the prayer niche as in the rug in the 
 illustration, and sometimes an ewer and 
 
78 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 basin and a mosque lamp are introduced. 
 This rug is an old Persian carpet, and has 
 for a ground colour a shade of blue such as 
 is often encountered in the old Persian 
 tiles. The figures in field and border are 
 of soft shades of reds, tans, and pinks with 
 some white, and all harmonize in the won- 
 derful manner that is the secret and art of 
 the Persian weaver. 
 
 One sometimes sees prayer rugs with a 
 double niche ; these are used for two per- 
 sons, and in some of the mosques there are 
 long carpets divided horizontally by these 
 designs into small sections just large enough 
 for one person to kneel upon, thus furnish- 
 ing a row of prayer rugs in one carpet. 
 
 BURIAL RUGS 
 
 When a Mohammedan dies the burial 
 takes place within twenty-four hours, and 
 frequently after the lapse of only a few 
 hours. The body is generally placed in a 
 rude coffin, but in the regions where wood 
 is scarce and consequently expensive, the 
 
CARPET RUGS 79 
 
 coffin is frequently dispensed with. The 
 body or the coffin is carried to the grave 
 on a wooden stretcher, at the head of 
 which is fastened a rod on which is placed 
 the fez of the deceased. Over the body 
 or coffin is thrown a burial rug if the 
 family own or can borrow one. This is a 
 very old custom. Andromache's chief re- 
 gret, in her lament over the death of Hec- 
 tor was, " that his body laid exposed to the 
 air far from his parents and his consort's 
 care." Our use of the pall for covering 
 the coffin is a survival of this custom. 
 Rugs used for this purpose always have 
 the tree design, — sometimes one large tree 
 in the centre, sometimes the ground cov- 
 ered with small trees, but always a tree in 
 some shape. The cypress is most com- 
 monly used, and is the tree always thickly 
 planted in Turkish cemeteries. It seems 
 to have been a symbol of immortality 
 from very ancient times, and long before 
 the time of Mahomet sprigs of it were 
 buried with the dead and branches of it 
 
8o RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 used in the homes as a symbol of miourn- 
 ing. Cypress trees were also planted above 
 the graves. Ever green, this tree suggests 
 unending life, and the wood is also almost 
 indestructible. The original doors of St. 
 Peter's in Rome were made of cypress 
 wood, and when, after standing for a thou- 
 sand years they were replaced by the splen- 
 did bronze ones that now close the sacred 
 edifice, no trace of decay was to be found 
 in them. In India the cypress also repre- 
 sents this idea of immortality, and the 
 beautiful cypress trees that surround the 
 Taj Mahal are a part of the glory of this 
 wonderful tomb. 
 
 SILK RUGS 
 
 There is a vast difference between the 
 silk rugs made in Turkey and those of 
 Persian origin. Ctesarea (sometimes spelled 
 with a K) is the centre of the silk carpet 
 industry in Turkey, and at one time the 
 Governor of the Province took such an 
 interest in the work that he personally in- 
 
;S>f,>, 
 
 Persian Silk Rug 
 
CARPET RUGS 8i 
 
 spected the output of the factory and con- 
 demned any inferior or imperfect piece. 
 The rugs made at Caesarea are mostly 
 prayer rugs with plain centres. These are 
 the rugs generally peddled by Armenians. 
 They are not specially fine and can not 
 compare with the silk rugs woven by 
 several rug firms at Constantinople. At 
 the Imperial rug factory at Hereke silk 
 rugs of great beauty are also made, and even 
 before the new regime their output was 
 controlled by a local rug firm and a shop 
 for their sale opened on the Grand Rue in 
 Pera. The silk rugs of Persian make are 
 quite well worth study. The fineness of 
 design and detail, the blending of colours, 
 and the texture make them works of art 
 ranking with paintings as wall adornments. 
 The silk rug in the illustration is of Persian 
 make. Upon the softest tan or in some 
 lights more of an ashes of roses tint, are 
 mingled and commingled colours inde- 
 scribable. Held one way the colour tone 
 is wood brown, viewed from another point 
 
 6 
 
82 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 grays and blues predominate. It is a veri- 
 table chameleon. 
 
 THE SACRED CARPET 
 
 There are three carpets sacred to the Mo- 
 hammedans which were gifts from the first 
 Shah of Persia who embraced the Mo- 
 hammedan faith. These rugs are in the 
 mosques at Konia, Jerusalem, and Mecca. 
 It was my good fortune, through the in- 
 fluence of a Turkish friend, to be received 
 by the grand Chelebi, or head of the Whirl- 
 ing Dervish sect at Konia (the man who 
 girds on the sword of Othman when a 
 new Sultan is crowned). When in the 
 course of conversation he learned that I 
 was interested in rugs he gave permission for 
 me to go into the inclosure in the mosque 
 where the sacred rug is kept in a beauti- 
 ful chest inlaid with mother of pearl and 
 silver. Removing my shoes, I followed the 
 priest who had charge of this treasure. 
 
 He unlocked the chest with great cere- 
 mony and brought out for inspection the 
 
Sacred Carpet 
 
CARPET RUGS 83 
 
 Holy Carpet upon which no Christian 
 eyes are supposed to look. It is a prayer 
 rug about three by five and made of the 
 finest silk. A soft shade of tan is the 
 ground; this is exactly the colour of the 
 high fezzes worn by the whirling dervishes 
 which remind one of great, inverted flower 
 pots. Upon this tawny background is 
 wrought the design of flowers and leaves 
 in most exquisite colouring. Silver and 
 gold are extensively used to outline the 
 pattern and for the high lights, particularly 
 in the border which has a design of pome- 
 granates as a sort of secondary pattern. 
 This use of the pomegranate in Moham- 
 medan art is very interesting as it is of 
 undoubted Hebrew origin. Pomegranates 
 were carved upon the pillars of Solomon's 
 Temple and were woven into the border 
 of Aaron's garments and the curtains of 
 the temple, and it is now more often 
 employed than any other floral design in 
 Turkey. The pomegranate is very highly 
 regarded and is eaten religiously every day 
 
84 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 for one month after the fruit ripens and is 
 gathered. The juice squeezed from the 
 seedy pulp with sugar and water added 
 makes a most delicious drink, often called 
 the wine of the Turks as it replaces for 
 them the alcoholic drinks of Western na- 
 tions. The true Turk is strictly temperate 
 as the Koran forbids the use of fermented 
 beverages. The candle sticks and the 
 niche mark the rug as one to be used for 
 prayer. 
 
 In the prayer niche is a reproduction of 
 the black stone of Mecca which according 
 to Mohammedan tradition was delivered 
 to Abraham by the angel Gabriel. To 
 shelter this stone the old Hebrew temple was 
 built. It is said to have been originally 
 white but has been turned black by the 
 contact with sinful men. 
 
 Every Mohammedan is supposed to make 
 the pilgrimage to Mecca once during his 
 life, and the last act of worship of this 
 pilgrimage is to pass around the Kaaba or 
 tabernacle containing the stone which by 
 
Ladik Rug 
 
CARPET RUGS 85 
 
 its magic power removes all taint of sin. 
 The coverings of the tabernacle and stone 
 are renewed every year and are the gift of 
 the Sultan of Turkey who as Caliph is the 
 successor of Mahomet as the spiritual head 
 of all Islam. It is a great occasion when 
 the caravan bearing this gift of the Sultan 
 starts out on its jburney to Mecca. It 
 leaves from Scutari on the Asiatic side of 
 the Bosporus and the camels bearing these 
 sacred coverings are most magnificently 
 caparisoned. 
 
 TURKISH RUGS 
 
 Rugs are generally classified as Persian 
 or Turkish, Caucasian and Turkomans. 
 Turkey is the most accessible to the 
 foreigner and Constantinople the nearest 
 rug market, so we will first consider the 
 rugs generally classed as Turkish. Form- 
 erly Smyrna was considered synonymous 
 with Turkish for a rug, but that mistake 
 has been discovered by intelligent rug 
 collectors. 
 
86 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 A great variety of rugs are made in the 
 district near Smyrna ; but these are, as has 
 already been explained, largely carpet rugs. 
 The old-time Smyrna rug with large 
 figures and red, blue, and green colouring is 
 largely superseded by the finer makes for 
 which the best Persian designs are often 
 employed. Some bear the names of the 
 towns where the factories are located, as 
 Oushack, Sparta, etc. 
 
 Turkish rugs proper rank in the follow- 
 ing order: Ghiordes, Kulah, Ladiks, Per- 
 gamos, Melez, Konias, and Anatolians. 
 Mosul and Kurdish rugs are also made in 
 Turkey. 
 
 GHIORDES RUGS 
 
 Most of the Ghiordes rugs that come 
 into the market now are worn and tattered 
 fragments of what was and still is probably 
 the most beautiful of all rugs. Though 
 not so closely woven as the Persian makes, 
 their chief glory is in their colour and the 
 exquisite mosaic-like combinations in the 
 
CARPET RUGS 87 
 
 border. In no other rugs are the balanc- 
 ing and proportions of colour so well main- 
 tained. The Ghiordes prayer rugs have 
 generally a central field of solid colour. 
 From the high-pointed prayer niche, 
 which is one of the marked characteristics 
 of these rugs, there is frequently suspended 
 in the plain centre a mosque lamp, usually 
 of floral design. Two columns, one on 
 either side of this lamp, intended to repre- 
 sent the two huge altar candles of the 
 mosque, are often found in this particular 
 type. 
 
 Frequently extending into the field from 
 the border there are single flowers on long 
 stems quite like the Konia motive. The 
 wider border stripe contains a wonderful 
 mosaic-like floral ^design often blocked off^ 
 like tiles, each section containing a spray 
 of two leaves and one blossom, or. two 
 blossoms and one leaf, or three blossoms. 
 
 The stems pointing alternately inward 
 and outward give an undulating effect. 
 The narrow ribbon-like stripes which 
 
88 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 separate the borders proper carry a central 
 wavy line. Sometimes the main border 
 contains only leaf forms, and again for the 
 main borders is substituted the narrow, al- 
 ternating dark and light stripes containing 
 the small fleck design characteristic of the 
 Kulah rugs. Indeed, the Kulah and 
 Ghiordes borders are often interchanged, as 
 it were, in both makes. In the corner 
 between the high arch (the angles of 
 which are generally broken) and the 
 border there is arranged in rows a repe- 
 tition of the palm or pear pattern, or some 
 variation of the leaf design of the border. 
 Above this is a panel in which the princi- 
 pal colour of the border is accentuated. 
 The patterns in this panel and in a similar 
 panel (always put underneath the field) 
 may carry a floral design or some geomet- 
 rical figures like the swastika. A silk 
 fringe, generally green, is often sewed 
 around the upper end of the rug and 
 extends down the sides about a foot. 
 
 At Magnesia, not far from Smyrna, lived 
 
ViVts 
 
 Kulah Rug. No. i 
 
CARPET RUGS 89 
 
 and ruled the great feudal chief Kara 
 Osman Oghlou. The splendour of his 
 palace and his luxurious life reads like a 
 tale from the Arabian Nights. He was 
 a defier of Sultans and a regal lord. He 
 commanded the Ghiordes weavers to make 
 a special sort of rug for his exclusive use, 
 and these carpets when they are to be 
 found are called the Kara Osman Oghlou 
 Ghiordes. It was my good fortune once 
 in visiting the town of Magnesia to obtain 
 a carpet from an old woman who claimed 
 descent from this illustrious family. It can 
 not of course be one that was made in the 
 time of Kara Osman Oghlou, but it is a 
 very old rug and has all the excellence for 
 which the Ghiordes weavers were famous. 
 
 This design is sometimes copied now, but 
 the modern copies are coarse specimens and 
 can claim no kinship to the one shown in 
 the illustration. 
 
 The black and white print is a prayer 
 rug and was copied at Harput from a 
 tattered old one. The centre and prevail- 
 
90 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 ing tone is green. The space above the 
 prayer niche is light blue and the lamp has 
 warm red and brown shading. The border 
 is a colour symphony as difficult to describe 
 as an old Persian stained glass window. 
 
 KULAH RUGS 
 
 The old cities of Kulah and Ghiordes 
 were near neighbours, and there is an in- 
 terchange of design and ideas ; so that it is 
 exceedingly difficult to locate some rare 
 pieces. The niche in the Kulah prayer 
 rug is not so high and sharply defined as in 
 the Ghiordes, nor has it the zigzag outline 
 of the Ghiordes niche. In place of the 
 wide central border stripe a number of 
 narrow ones usually make up the Kulah 
 border, though sometimes a broad stripe 
 occurs ; when it does, it is more frequently 
 filled with small figures repeated horizon- 
 tally in rows than the floral design em- 
 ployed in the Ghiordes border. Alternating 
 narrow border stripes, one dark and one 
 light, carrying a succession of small designs, 
 
CARPET RUGS 91 
 
 a sort of fleck pattern, are reckoned a dis- 
 tinctive Kulah mark. It is also copied in 
 the Ghiordes rug, so one can not safely 
 classify a rug by this mark alone. 
 
 Blue is a favourite colour for the ground 
 of these rugs, but a soft shade of golden 
 brow^n is so much employed that it might 
 almost be called a Kulah brown. 
 
 Rug No. I has the centre of the peculiar 
 Kulah brow^n of golden sheen. It has in 
 addition to the three other borders the seven 
 narrow, alternating dark and light stripes 
 bearing the fleck design. Soft shades of 
 green appear in the outline of some of 
 these stripes and in the ground of two of 
 the three wide border stripes. The two 
 flower-like columns, so often seen in the 
 Ghiordes rugs, must be set down as essen- 
 tially of Kulah origin. Light blues, soft 
 yellowish tans, greens, black, and faint pinks 
 are the colours found in combination in the 
 floral columns in this rug. The field above 
 the niche on either end has a ground of 
 light blue which is continued down, form- 
 
92 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 ing another narrow border on the sides of 
 the field. The white serrated pattern also 
 becomes a zigzag border on a tan ground. 
 
 LADIK RUGS 
 
 In olden times in the city of Laodicea 
 (one of the seven cities of the seven 
 churches of Asia) beautiful rugs were made. 
 Rugs are made there to-day, but of inferior 
 quality and design, bearing no resemblance 
 to the artistic weavings of the past. Good 
 specimens of the old rugs are still obtain- 
 able, but every year they command a 
 higher price and one must search longer 
 for them. The colouring is one of the 
 chief charms of these rugs. They remind 
 one of a walk in the autumn woods ; soft 
 reds, yellows, and browns are the prevailing 
 tones, and when blue is employed it is the 
 blue of an autumn sky at sunset with a 
 suggestion of green in it. 
 
 The pattern is so characteristic of these 
 rugs as to be unmistakable, a plain centre 
 upon which is usually a mosque lantern, or 
 
Pergamos Rug, No. I 
 
CARPET RUGS 
 
 93 
 
 groups of two triangles filled with smaller 
 ones, and outlined by the latch hook. A 
 pointed prayer niche generally outlined in 
 yellow, the lower part of the rug balancing 
 the prayer niche, always containing five 
 tree-like branches alternately capped with 
 
 Signet of David 
 
 Seal of Solotnon 
 
 a floral and a geometrical design. The 
 border consists of a main border stripe with 
 two or three narrow stripes repeated on 
 each side. The edge is worked over with 
 the kelim stitch, making a very stout sel- 
 vedge. The narrow borders are usually 
 alternating bands of black and white (the 
 so-called Kulah border), each narrow band 
 containing a succession of unconnected, 
 separate small designs. There is frequently 
 
94 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 a narrow stripe of white next to the centre 
 carrying the undulating or meander pattern. 
 The main border stripe in many of the old- 
 est Specimens has the Rhodian lily design 
 alternating with the rosette. The use of 
 this old Rhodian pattern is very interesting, 
 showing the migration of ideas. The 
 Rhodian lily is not, as some writers would 
 have us believe, of obscure origin. During 
 a visit to Rhodes a few years ago I had the 
 privilege of meeting and becoming ac- 
 quainted with Mr. Billioti, who, with his 
 brother Sir Alfred, made the excavations 
 for the British Museum of the old tombs 
 and cities on the Island. They are author- 
 ity upon all things Rhodian, and they told 
 me that the origin of the lily design goes 
 back to the earliest tradition of the Island. 
 " When Apollo was away on his charitable 
 mission of driving the Sun Chariot and 
 bringing light to the earth, the world was 
 partitioned out among the Gods, and Apollo, 
 not being present, was quite forgotten in 
 the distribution. Upon his return he made 
 
CARPET RUGS 95 
 
 complaint to Jove who, in order to make 
 due reparation, caused the Island of Rhodes 
 to rise up out of the sea covered with 
 beautiful lilies." 
 
 The inhabitants to this day repeat this 
 legend and point to the sea shells that are 
 found in the highest parts as corroborating 
 
 Oldest Rhodian Coin 
 
 the story. Be that as it may, this peculiar 
 lily has been emblematic of Rhodes ever 
 since. The oldest coin of Rhodes has the 
 head of Apollo on one side and the lily on 
 the other. (See illustration.) It is the 
 chief feature in the decoration of the beau- 
 tiful tiles and pottery made there thousands 
 of years ago. The rug in plate No. 3 
 shows the Rhodian lily design in the 
 
96 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 border and also the Konia floral design 
 branching out from the border into the 
 field. It has the mosque lantern, and both 
 rugs Nos, I and 2 have above the prayer 
 niche in either corner the lamp design. 
 The blue in the field of No. 2 is a most 
 exquisite shade, with a greenish cast. 
 
 PERGAMOS RUGS 
 
 Pergamos, or Bergamo, rugs, as they are 
 sometimes called, are a type by themselves. 
 Pergamos, when St. John wrote of it in 
 Revelation, was one of the oldest cities of 
 Asia Minor, having a history supplemented 
 by tradition reaching back to Telephos, 
 the son of Hercules, whose interesting 
 history carved in marble adorned the frieze 
 of the great temple and is now to be seen 
 in the Museum at Berlin. Its rulers were 
 at least amenable to the influences of 
 Grecian art, as is witnessed by its ruined 
 Acropolis and even by the designs found 
 in the rugs woven there. Most of the 
 Perganios rugs made to-day are coarse and 
 
Antique Pergamos Rug 
 
CARPET RUGS 97 
 
 degenerate in pattern. In the old rugs, 
 although the nap is a bit longer than in 
 the Ghiordes, Kulahs, or Ladiks, still the 
 effect is good. Blue and red set off by 
 white are the colours commonly found in 
 them. The design always starts from the 
 centre and is repeated each way, and fre- 
 quently a tuft of wool is found in the 
 centre, a sort of evil-eye charm. They 
 are usually small rugs, wide in proportion 
 to their length. The curious treatment 
 of the last two or three warp threads on 
 each side which are worked in the kelim 
 stitch forming a strong selvedge is a peculiar 
 characteristic of this make of rug. The 
 one in the illustration is a very fine rug, 
 both in colouring and design including the 
 Rhodian lily, and it lays more smoothly 
 upon the floor than most Pergamos rugs 
 (for it is sometimes necessary to cut out 
 the selvedge and fringe out the ends to 
 make them lie flat). I purchased a rug 
 from a Greek family living near Pergamos, 
 which even the experts to whom I have 
 
 7 
 
98 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 submitted it hesitate to classify, and it 
 is indeed difficult. (See coloured plate.) In 
 weave, texture, closeness of nap, design, 
 colour, everything that usually determines 
 the family to which a rug belongs, it is a 
 Ghiordes. The only Pergamos feature is 
 the half-inch selvedge on each side worked 
 in the kelim stitch and the coloured web at 
 each end. This selvedge and woven band 
 of warp and weft are distinctive marks of 
 the Pergamos rug. Query, shall we locate 
 the rug by its colour, design, weave, etc., or 
 by the sole earmark, as it were, of selvedge 
 and web extension ? To whichever family 
 it belongs it honours its parentage. 
 
 MELEZ RUGS 
 
 Good Melez or Melhaz rugs are now 
 difficult to obtain, and they increase in 
 price every year. This name is given to 
 the rugs made in the vicinity of the city of 
 Melhaz, a town of Asia Minor on the 
 coast nearly opposite the Island of Rhodes. 
 In the old rugs like the one in the illustra- 
 
CARPET RUGS 99 
 
 tion a perfect harmony of colouring exists, 
 a rich brownish red in the centre and 
 greenish shades in the border designs. An 
 occasional touch of lavender is also present. 
 In the field above the prayer niche on an 
 ivory white ground is a lattice-like device 
 in the softest tones of red, canary yellow, 
 greens, and lavender. 
 
 One should not neglect to purchase good 
 specimens when encountered ; for they are 
 disappearing, and it will soon be impossible 
 to obtain them. 
 
 KONIAH AND ANATOLIAN RUGS 
 
 Koniah, the ancient Iconium from which 
 Paul and Barnabas fled to escape being 
 stoned, has always been a centre for weav- 
 ing. The older rugs never attained the 
 fame of the Ghiordes and Kulahs or even 
 that of the Pergamos or Ladiks, but they 
 were fine rugs of warm, rich hues. They 
 were made generally in hearth-rug size, 
 with the corners in both ends of the field 
 cut off, forming almost two prayer niches ; 
 
100 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 single flower forms on long stems ex- 
 tended into the field. The borders were 
 sometimes floral and sometimes made up of 
 narrow stripes, and red was always the 
 predominating colour. 
 
 Very few of these rugs are now in the 
 market. The modern Konia weaving is 
 confined almost entirely to the large carpet 
 rugs, and Smyrna firms have factories there 
 and in the adjacent villages. The general 
 name Anatolia covers a wide range of rugs 
 made in Central and Western Turkey, and 
 represents every grade and design. 
 
 MOSUL CARPETS 
 Mosul carpets may be of the texture of 
 a Persian Shiraz or the heavy, long-piled 
 Kurdish rug, according as they are made 
 in the region adjacent to and controlled 
 by Persian influences or on the side con- 
 trolled by the wild tribesmen. The city 
 of Mosul (the ancient Nineveh) is situ- 
 ated on the Tigris River, not far from the 
 Persian border. There are more rugs 
 
.->.^->..f,.^,,.^,-r,^^^-.; ;::.;-\^:-,--. „,,;.?, v^-? "^Ps|v':'?:V;^SJ|M^^ 
 
 Mosul Rug. No. I 
 
CARPET RUGS loi 
 
 made and shipped from the Mosul district 
 than perhaps any other unless it be Smyrna, 
 and some of them are very good but many 
 very bad. The specimen No. i in the 
 accompanying illustration is an old Mosul 
 rug showing Daghestan influences. Most 
 lovely and soft is the colouring, pale blues, 
 tans, and pinks predominating with plenty 
 of ivory white. No. 2 is one in which the 
 maker gave free hand to his love of colour. 
 The design is a mosaic, two rows of octa- 
 gons, each one bordered by 
 the latch-hook design and 
 containing in the centre 
 the knot of destiny. 
 
 Each one of these octa- 
 gons is a colour study. One 
 in exquisite green with 
 
 latch-hook pattern in old The Knot of Destiny 
 
 rose, a darker shade of old rose occurring 
 in the centre on which the knot of destiny 
 is wrought out in blue and old gold, and 
 tiny white triangles in which there is a dot 
 of pink. The next octagon blue with old 
 
I02 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 rose latch hook, the centre green, in which 
 the knot of destiny is in light blue and deep 
 rose, etc., etc. It reminds one of a stained 
 glass window. The border of three stripes, 
 the centre in a sort of crushed strawberry 
 shade, and the side borders carrying a floral 
 design in blue, rose, and green. 
 
 KURDISH RUGS 
 
 In the Dersim mountains near the Eu- 
 phrates River live the Kurds, the High- 
 landers of Turkey. They are mostly no- 
 mads, or when settled in villages living in 
 true feudal style. The chief owns and con- 
 trols everything and the others are practi- 
 cally serfs. They are bold and warlike. 
 Their women wear a peculiar white head 
 dress and go unveiled in their native vil- 
 lages. They have the reputation of being 
 always ready for a fight or a plundering 
 expedition, but they make perfect servants, 
 for having once entered your employ and 
 eaten your bread they are faithful unto 
 death. It is to be expected that the rugs 
 
CARPET RUGS 103 
 
 woven by these tribes should be heavy and 
 of barbaric design. Brownish madder reds 
 are the ground of these carpets ; white, yel- 
 low, and green are employed in the pat- 
 terns. Their rugs are usually divided into 
 three sections. The designs huge geomet- 
 rical affairs — usually being the same in 
 each section. They are very durable and 
 soft, your feet fairly sinking in the long 
 pile as you step on them. 
 
 PERSIAN RUGS 
 
 It is somewhat difficult to classify Persian 
 rugs in the order of their merit, as there 
 is such a difference in individual opinion. 
 
 This list does not profess to be a final 
 judgment upon them, but simply a per- 
 sonal opinion. 
 
 Kirman, Kirmansha, Tabriz or Ker- 
 manshah. Senna, Sarak, Saraband, Ferehan, 
 Herat, Hammedan, Shiraz, Ghorevan, 
 Meshed or Muskabad, and Khorasan. 
 
104 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 KIRMAN, KIRMANSHA AND TABRIZ OR 
 KERMANSHAH RUGS 
 
 When Marco Polo travelled in Persia 
 in 1 270 he said in describing the industries 
 of the Southern Province of Kirman : ' ' The 
 ladies of this country produce exquisite 
 needlework; they w^ork and w^eave hang- 
 ings and rugs for the noblemen so deftly 
 that they are marvels to see." 
 
 The population of this province is more 
 purely Persian than that of any other part 
 of the Empire. It is claimed also that a 
 very superior breed of sheep and goats are 
 raised there, and that the wool is of better 
 and softer quality in the Kirman than in 
 any other make of carpets. A part of the 
 province bears the name of Kirmansha, so 
 that the carpets bearing either name come 
 from the same district and must not be 
 confounded with the Kermanshahs from 
 the North. Both large and small rugs are 
 made there. The design of the Kirman 
 is of the floral order, although in some of 
 
Kabistan Rug, Modern, No. I 
 
CARPET RUGS 105 
 
 the carpets made in the last few years the 
 medallion is introduced. In the older rugs 
 not only flowers and trees but birds, beasts, 
 landscapes, and even human figures are 
 found. The palm leaf in large form is also 
 employed. These carpets are not so firm 
 or heavy as those from Tabriz, and the 
 floral designs are treated with a lighter, 
 more graceful touch. The background is 
 generally ivory or a yellowish gray. The 
 border stripes are numerous and filled with 
 finely wrought designs. The warp is cot- 
 ton or cotton and wool mixed. The Tab- 
 riz rugs are made now in factories in the 
 city of Tabriz, boys being largely employed 
 in the weaving. These factories are mostly 
 under European control, and only the best 
 materials are used. Both large and small 
 rugs are woven, but more of the larger or 
 carpet sizes. These rugs generally bear 
 the name of Kermanshas in the Western 
 market, but they must not be confounded 
 with the Kermanshahs made by the moun- 
 taineers along the Turkish border, for they 
 
io6 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 are of loose, coarse weave and are not of the 
 same class. The Tabriz rugs copy very 
 closely the old Kirman designs and usually 
 have a large medallion in the centre and 
 elaborate corner ornamentation. The bor- 
 ders are many and varied in design and the 
 field of the rug is generally w^ell covered 
 with a fine pattern. Some of them have 
 Italian or European patterns, but not often. 
 In quality, workmanship, and fineness of 
 texture they rank with those from Kirman 
 in the first class of Persian rugs. They are 
 coloured with vegetable dyes but nearly al- 
 ways chemically washed to soften and tone 
 down the colouring. 
 
 There are old Kirmanshas to be found 
 occasionally, but they are rare, and nearly 
 always one must reckon upon these carpets 
 being " doctored "if they are of very soft or 
 delicate colouring. You can only be sure of 
 a Kirman or a Tabriz if the colours are reds, 
 blues, and yellows of not too delicate 
 shading. 
 
CARPET RUGS 107 
 
 SENNA RUGS 
 
 Although the city and district of Senna 
 lies near the Turkish border, the rugs made 
 there are distinctly Persian and rank with 
 the Tabriz and Kirman as to quality. Some 
 of the modern rugs show a tendency to 
 degeneracy, but as a class they have kept 
 wonderfully true to traditional patterns. 
 The background is usually white, although 
 sometimes of an ivory tint. The pear pat- 
 tern, generally small (but sometimes on a 
 large scale, three or four covering the en- 
 tire field), is used, or the fish part of the 
 Herati design covers the centre with occa- 
 sionally a medallion in the middle. The 
 warp is always cotton and the pile closely 
 trimmed, the borders usually three in num- 
 ber, the centre stripe broader and flanked 
 by the narrow ones, — the latter generally 
 containing some form of the meander. 
 
 Good old Senna pillow rugs are not in- 
 frequently met with now, in the interior. 
 
io8 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 SARAKHS 
 
 These rugs are colour signals flaunted in 
 a host of brilliant shades by the tribesmen 
 who were ruled by Genghis and Tartar 
 chiefs. One would think such brilliant 
 colours could not be combined in an artistic 
 way, but such is not the case. 
 
 The design of these carpets is simple 
 and somewhat crude ; a scragly pear pattern 
 usually covers the field ; sometimes there is 
 a medallion in the centre, but not often. 
 Two borders complete the pattern; these 
 contain floral forms with a broad stripe be- 
 tween bearing geometrical figures. Colour 
 is everywhere rampant and glorious. It 
 appeals to more than the sight, and some- 
 how suggests the word " delicious." The 
 red in the background of the one shown is 
 the colour of rich blood as it flows fresh 
 from a wound. Blue, yellow, and pink, and 
 even touches of green, are employed in 
 working out the pattern, but there is no 
 jarring note in the whole carpet. 
 
Kabistan Rug 
 
CARPET RUGS 109 
 
 SARABAND RUGS 
 
 The Saraband rugs always have the cen- 
 tre covered with the so-called pear pat- 
 tern on a field usually of a beautiful shade 
 of wine red. The border is always in 
 "threes," the main stripe a little wider 
 with a narrow one on each side. These 
 sets of " threes " are often repeated so that 
 there will be six and nine and even twelve 
 border stripes always in the arrangement 
 described. There is a regular Saraband 
 border pattern which is quite as character- 
 istic of the rug as the pear pattern in the 
 field (as shown in the illustration), but in 
 some of the older rugs the centre band of 
 the border contains another design. The 
 pear, river loop, cone, or palm-leaf design 
 was first made known to us in the Cash- 
 mere and India shawls, and is employed in 
 many rugs, but it is a characteristic feature 
 of the Saraband. The origin of this de- 
 sign is credited by various authors to vari- 
 ous sources. In its simplest or cone form 
 
no RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 it was thought to represent the fruit of the 
 sacred tree, which was used as the symbol 
 of immortality by the ancients. By some 
 it is judged to represent the loop made by 
 River Ganges or Indus, sacred to the pil- 
 grims. In this form it is more elongated 
 and graceful than in the other representa- 
 tions. It has also been claimed that it was 
 intended to reproduce the chief ornament 
 of the old Persian crown, which is a com- 
 posite pear-shaped jewel. I should be more 
 inclined to believe that it was either the 
 symbol used by the fire worshippers to re- 
 produce in their rugs and shawls the cone 
 of flame, which they worshipped (and 
 which they still worship in parts of Turkey 
 and Persia to this day), or to reproduce the 
 palm leaf or stamp as was explained to me 
 once by an old Sheik. 
 
 The custom still survives from the olden 
 time of affixing to covenants and documents 
 of importance as a seal, the sign made by 
 dipping the side of the half-closed hand in 
 blood and pressing it upon the paper or 
 
CARPET RUGS in 
 
 parchment. This gives a figure resembling 
 very closely the so-called " palm leaf," and 
 the Turkish word for the palm of the hand, 
 el-ayassi, is often given to this pattern. 
 
 HERAT AND FEREHAN RUGS 
 
 The city of Herat is, strictly speaking, 
 not Persian, as it is outside the present 
 boundary of that country, and on account of 
 its geographical position is often spoken of 
 as the key to India. The Herat carpets 
 are, however, classed as Persian fabrics. 
 Old Herat rugs are seldom encountered in 
 the market, but new ones of good quality 
 may be purchased any day. The Herati 
 design is the most widely copied of any 
 pattern and is common to a great variety 
 of rugs. It is as characteristic a feature of 
 the Ferehan as of the real Herat, but is 
 used only in the field of the Ferehan carpet 
 and is much smaller and less clearly drawn. 
 The Herati design is never employed in the 
 border of the Ferehan rug, which has a dis- 
 tinctive border of its own, consisting usu- 
 
112 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 ally of three stripes, the middle one of 
 alternating rosettes and palmettes upon a 
 waving vine wrought upon a pale green 
 background. The Senna knot is always 
 employed in these rugs, while the Ghiordes 
 knot is always used in the Herat rugs and 
 is one of the distinguishing features of this 
 make of carpet. The Herati design is of 
 very ancient origin. By some authorities 
 it is claimed to be of Chinese origin, and 
 by others of Egyptian. The lancet-like 
 leaves representing the sacred fish of Isis 
 and the lotus-like rosette certainly suggest 
 Egyptian derivation as very possible. In 
 this design the four petals of the blossom 
 are sometimes pegged down to the ground 
 to serve as a pattern to the weaver and are so 
 represented in the carpet. The leaves are also 
 frequently prolonged so they meet those of 
 the next series until they form a sort of trellis. 
 The Herat rug shown in the illustration 
 is one of a pair that I bought in a house 
 in the interior of Turkey. They had 
 covered the long low divans of the guest 
 

 
 VO C "w-* 3 c «-■ > 3 . c:« 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 ■•;, „ U' 
 
 
 
 Ji " ?•. 
 
 
 l^^^^^^g^^^^l 
 
 
 
 
 
 -■• ,.**■• *-■•'■-*■•• ■*'•■ ■ *■■ 
 
 \", -*■•' 
 
 Bokhara Rug, Royal Design 
 
CARPET RUGS 113 
 
 room for forty years, and were old rugs 
 when they were purchased by this family. 
 Only the lapse of many years could have 
 produced the exquisite colouring and silken 
 sheen characterizing them. The border as 
 well as the field is covered with the Herati 
 design. The Ferehan in the illustration is 
 an old carpet containing the best traditions 
 of this weave. 
 
 HAMMEDAN RUGS 
 
 The Hammedan rugs continue the tra,- 
 ditions of former times more than any 
 others unless it be the Bokharas. I doubt 
 not that Esther knelt before Ahasuerus on 
 a rug bordered by a wide band of camel's 
 hair, with a small medallion in the centre 
 upon a field of ivory white, the corners cut 
 off by a design corresponding to the centre 
 medallion and the field covered by a diaper 
 fret of camel's hair, or with a semi-floral 
 geometrical design with a pinkish tinge. 
 Haman's friends doubtless threw such a 
 rug over his body when they removed 
 
114 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 it from the gallows he had erected for 
 Mordecai and carried it to its last resting 
 place. 
 
 Most of the Hammedans follow this 
 pattern, and one always finds this cutting off 
 of the corners, making as it were a sort of 
 prayer niche at both ends of the rug. In 
 the old tribal days rugs so marked were the 
 " hearth " rugs, not in the sense we use the 
 word to mean the space before a fireplace, 
 for then as now the fires with which these 
 people heat their houses were contained in 
 braziers which were almost always placed in 
 the centre of the room, but hearth in the 
 sense of home. They corresponded to the 
 cities of refuge set apart by Moses to which 
 offenders against the law might flee for 
 refuge. Once such a fugitive, fleeing from 
 his enemies, gained entrance to the sheik's 
 tent and set foot on this rug, then the sheik 
 and the whole tribe were bound to defend 
 him. 
 
CARPET RUGS 115 
 
 SHIRAZ RUGS 
 
 The old Shiraz rugs were works of art, 
 but since the province is no longer the 
 seat of Government the weaving and de- 
 signs have deteriorated. These rugs come 
 in warm tones, some with the pear pattern, 
 but more frequently three elongated dia- 
 mond medallions ; the space between filled 
 in with small designs and always showing 
 figures of men and animals. 
 
 Diagonal stripes sometimes fill the field 
 of these carpets and some have these stripes 
 converging and meeting a centre stripe. 
 The borders are wide and richly orna- 
 mented, the edge is worked over and over 
 and tufts of wool left protruding at in- 
 tervals along the sides like small tassels. 
 The ends often have between the pile and 
 the fringe a coarse check pattern in the 
 Sumac stitch. 
 
ii6 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 HOREVAN, SERAPI, KHORASAN, AND 
 MESHED OR MUSKABAD RUGS 
 
 Ghorevan, or Gorevan, is a city in the 
 district of Herez not far from Tabriz. 
 The rugs marketed under this name are in 
 carpet sizes and of excellent quality. The 
 figures are large and bold, always geomet- 
 rical, and they usually have a large centre 
 medallion. The corners are frequently cut 
 off and the border has one broad main 
 stripe usually set between two narrow ones. 
 The background is frequently blue, bright 
 yet of a soft, pleasing quality ; old rose, tans, 
 browns, and buff grays are employed in 
 combination in the carpets and sometimes 
 take the place of the blue as the main body 
 colour. Serapi rugs are made in or near the 
 village of Sirab in the Gorevan district. 
 The patterns are mostly of the Tabriz 
 variety and as a rule lighter colours are 
 employed than in the Gorevan. They 
 come almost exclusively in carpet sizes and 
 stand about midway between the Gorevan 
 
Bokhara Rug, Tekke Design 
 
CARPET RUGS 117 
 
 and Tabriz rugs as to quality and price. 
 Khorasan rugs come in all sizes and the 
 pear pattern in great variety is the charac- 
 teristic design, although some have a medal- 
 lion in the centre. The border has one 
 main stripe in which a waving vine is usu- 
 ally found, or the Herati or the pear pattern. 
 The distinguishing characteristic of the 
 rugs is their silky, fleece-like appearance 
 suggesting the long nap of canton flannel. 
 It is produced by the long pile ; four or five 
 rows are tied with no weft to separate them, 
 then three or four threads are thrown across; 
 this leaves long strands of wool to untwist 
 and become very silky with wear. A sys- 
 tem of uneven clipping is also employed 
 which heightens this effect. The Mesheds, 
 or Muskabads, as they are often called in 
 Turkey, come from the capitol of the 
 Khorasan district and are warm and lus- 
 trous in tone and follow more the conven- 
 tional medallion and cut-off corner design 
 than the Khorasan proper. 
 
ii8 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 CAUCASIAN RUGS 
 
 The Caucasus is the gateway from 
 Europe into Persia, and although at the 
 present time Russia shares with Persia the 
 possession of this territory, still rugs of fine 
 make and usually classed as Persian come 
 into the market from this region in great 
 quantities. They are known to trade as 
 Daghestan, Shirvan, Kabistan, Kazak, Les- 
 ghian, Tzitzi, Sumac, etc. 
 
 DAGHESTAN AND SHIRVAN RUGS 
 
 Old Daghestan and Shirvan rugs are sel- 
 dom to be found in the market now, but 
 occasionally a fine specimen can be obtained 
 as like that in the accompanying illustra- 
 tion. It has three medallions in the centre 
 edged with the latch hook characteristic 
 of the Daghestan rug. This design is a 
 corruption of the old Chinese " fret " 
 and shows how Mongolian influence and 
 thought have traversed the high mountain 
 ranges that divide these countries. The 
 
CARPET RUGS 119 
 
 lattice work made up of triangles is also 
 typical of this make of rug, for it is em- 
 ployed more extensively in the Daghestan 
 than any other. The origin of this design 
 is easy to trace ; for the Mohammedans, 
 accepting as they do the Old Testament, 
 have in their art the signs and forms com- 
 mon to the Jews. The triangle, the Jew- 
 ish symbol of divinity, is a favourite device. 
 The Mohammedan rosary differs from all 
 others in that it is divided by projecting 
 beads into three parts with an equal number 
 of beads between (usually thirty-three), thus 
 making the rosary in the form of a triangle. 
 One must not confuse the Mohammedan 
 rosary with the string of beads which upon 
 all occasions these people are passing through 
 their fingers. These strings of beads are 
 not divided into three parts and have no 
 religious significance, but .they serve the 
 same purpose with Turkish gentlemen that 
 twirling a lead pencil and playing with the 
 watch chain does with men of Western 
 nations. 
 
120 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 The Shiryan and Daghestan rugs have 
 many borders, one of which is pretty sure to 
 be made up of the conventionalized swastika, 
 that curious symbol of good luck common 
 to all races from the North American In- 
 dians to the Mohammedans, Chinese, and 
 Bhuddists. The Roman key is thought to 
 be but a corruption of this symbol. That 
 this rug was made by a Shiite Mohamme- 
 dan is evident at a glance from the figures 
 of men, birds, and animals scattered upon 
 the field. 
 
 Shirvan rugs are made in quantities now, 
 but they have degenerated from the fine 
 old examples, although occasionally a good 
 piece comes into the market such as the 
 one shown in the illustration. The warp 
 is a mixture of white and brown wool 
 twisted. The ground is a most beautiful 
 blue with no suggestion of green in the 
 tint. The geometrical figures are laid upon 
 this soft, intense blue in shades of lighter 
 blue, tans, yellows, and reddish browns. 
 The same colour scheme prevails in the 
 
W.4i 
 
 If 
 
 f^. 
 
 ,i/ 
 
 iJi 
 
 ff' fAi 'ijl.li ,i, 
 
 B-S^i^iiJUiiiiiiLiill^liiii^iS^i^^i^ 
 
 >'. •« -■• -^ ?«.'? ■, . ■-: : X 
 
 
 v^XV^ 
 
 
 : ■'' ; : ■[-•Vfr!:'* 
 
 
 ■ •■' •■' -■' ."- •'- • 
 
 mil; . 'iii'iU- 
 
 m'i^ %' -i^ 
 
 Beluchistan Rug 
 
CARPET RUGS 121 
 
 borders except for the one white stripe 
 containing the tarantula pattern, in which 
 in each alternate figure a sage green re- 
 places the light blue, producing a lovely 
 effect. The upper octagon in the pattern 
 forms a prayer niche. 
 
 KABISTAN RUGS 
 
 The vowels are never written in Turkish 
 and Persian, and the characters do not stand 
 for single consonants but represent combi- 
 nations of sounds as in shorthand, so that 
 the same name is spelled in a great variety 
 of ways when it is translated into English. 
 For example, the name of the Turkish city 
 of Harput is spelled Kharput, Harput, Har- 
 poot, etc., the vowels "a" and "u" not 
 being written and only the sounds indicated; 
 the result is very misleading and each person 
 can interpret this phonetic spelling to suit 
 himself. This custom accounts for the 
 substitution of the " a " for the " u " in 
 Kabistan, for all these rugs are- made in the 
 Kuba district. The Kabistan (Kubistan) 
 
122 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 or Kuba rugs, as they are called in Turkey, 
 are one of the best fabrics, made in the 
 Caucasus. They are closely woven and 
 closely sheared and lie well upon the floor. 
 The pattern shows Daghestan influences, 
 large diamond medallions often being found 
 in the field. The elongated S, the symbol 
 of the fire worshippers, set horizontally 
 occurs frequently in these rugs. The 
 Kabistan carpets have either weft or warp, 
 and sometimes both, of cotton; and the sides 
 are almost always overcast, making a firm 
 selvedge. No. i shows a comparatively 
 modern Kabistan probably not more than 
 fifty years old ; No. 2, an antique with the 
 sheen and soft colour tones imparted alone 
 by age. 
 
 It was called a Kuba by the old Turk of 
 whom I purchased it, and in every particu- 
 lar resembles an old Kuba. It also has the 
 overhand selvedge common to these rugs. 
 In design it partakes somewhat of the 
 characteristics of an antique Shirvan ; the 
 diagonal arrangement of the convention- 
 
CARPET RUGS 123 
 
 alized Persian rose, and the distribution of 
 the border stripes are sometimes found in 
 the Shirvan as well as the antique Kubas. 
 
 KAZAK RUGS 
 
 The coarse, heavy texture and strong, 
 rather crude geometrical designs of the 
 Kazak carpets are a natural expression of 
 the character of the people who weave 
 them, wild nomad tribes, living in tents 
 among the mountains. 
 
 The old Kazak shown in the illustra- 
 tion is beautiful in its colour harmony made 
 up of reds, blues, whites, and yellows, 
 softened by age. 
 
 In weaving these rugs, four threads of 
 the weft are thrown across after every row 
 of knots. This causes the pile threads to 
 overlap each other and gives the wool 
 ample opportunity to untwist and become 
 lustrous. The crap or turtle border is a 
 distinctive feature of these carpets. 
 
124 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 LESGHIAN STRIP 
 
 Fine carpets usually long and narrow are 
 made by the Lesghian tribes who inhabit 
 the foot hills of the mountain ranges back 
 of Tiflis. 
 
 The field is very narrow and the carpet 
 consists mainly of border. Blue and soft 
 tans are the predominating shades, and all 
 the designs of the Caucasus region and 
 some strictly Persian are employed: 
 
 Notice the water motive in the field of 
 the rug in the illustration. 
 
 TZITZI RUGS 
 
 No survey of the rugs of Persian make 
 would be complete without a mention of 
 the Tzitzi, of which even the modern 
 specimens are very good. 
 
 The ground of these rugs, usually blue in 
 colour, is filled with small pattern rosettes 
 and scroll. The field is narrow in com- 
 parison with the border, which is composed 
 of many stripes with small geometrical and 
 
Section of Old Mosul Rug, No. 11 
 
CARPET RUGS 125 
 
 floral designs. Yellows are the usual pre- 
 vailing colour tone of the borders. The 
 whole rug gives one an impression of a 
 rich mosaic. 
 
 SUMAC RUGS 
 
 Sumac or, as they are sometimes called, 
 Kashmere rugs belong, strictly speaking, to 
 the kelim family. They are woven like 
 a kelim and the designs embroidered on 
 as the rug is woven. They are heavy and 
 very durable as a floor covering, the long, 
 loose ends of the wool used in working in 
 the designs pad, as it were, the under side 
 of the rug. These carpets come in large 
 sizes and are particularly suitable for 
 library and dining-room use. They are 
 made by the tribes in the Transcaucas. 
 These people resent the advent of civiliza- 
 tion and hate the Russians and their rail- 
 road. When I was living in the interior 
 of Turkey a whole tribe emigrated there, 
 travelling all that distance to get away 
 from the progress of the times. They 
 
126 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 were a very picturesque company in their 
 Circassian costumes. The carpet, a portion 
 of which is shown in the accompanying 
 illustration, I purchased from the loom 
 where their women were weaving it. 
 They were very devout Mohammedans, 
 and yet around the central figures or me- 
 dallions (as is the case in nearly all rugs of 
 this make) there is the symbol of the cross 
 which, had they realized what it meantj, 
 nothing could have induced them to 
 weave. 
 
 The tribes who originally made these 
 rugs were what is called in Turkey kisil- 
 bach, a term of great opprobrium and 
 abhorrence to a Mohammedan. The kisil- 
 bachs have never accepted Mohamme- 
 danism, and are still at heart Christians. 
 They never attend the mosque services but 
 have a worship of their own and once a 
 year at least celebrate in secret the Lord's 
 Supper. When travelling in the interior of 
 Turkey as we approached a small village 
 I inquired of the arabiji (the driver of our 
 
CARPET RUGS 127 
 
 wagon) if he thought we could obtain any 
 fresh fruit or vegetables in this town. He 
 replied: "No, madam, nothing; God doesn't 
 even know anything about these people, 
 they are kisil-bach." The mosque in the 
 town, which a zealous Sultan had built to 
 encourage them to proper worship, was 
 used as a storehouse for their grain; and 
 the gallery of the minaret where the 
 Muezzin should have paced to call the 
 faithful to prayer was a nesting place for. 
 the storks. The knot of destiny dating 
 back to Solomon is nearly always to be 
 found in these rugs and is repeated many 
 times in the medallion and field of this 
 particular rug. 
 
 TURKOMAN RUGS 
 
 These rugs come from the territory 
 bounded by the Caspian Sea, the Sea of 
 Asal, Afghanistan, Persia, and the Chinese 
 frontier. Wild nomad tribes occupy this 
 district and weave rugs of great beauty and 
 very ancient design. Bokhara, Yomoud, 
 
128 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Afghan or Khiva, Bokhara, Samarkand, 
 Beluchistan, and Kashgar all come from 
 this region. 
 
 BOKHARA RUGS 
 
 Bokhara rugs, so called in America and 
 England, would not be recognized by that 
 name by the Turkoman tribes of the 
 Transcaucas who weave them. As they 
 were formerly shipped from the city of 
 Bokhara in company with the Khiva, Af- 
 ghan, and Yomouds, the name on the bill 
 of lading adhered to the rugs. Fine spec- 
 imens of the Bokhara or Turkoman rugs are 
 now extremely difficult to obtain. With 
 the Russian occupation of this district has 
 come into use the cheaper and more easily 
 prepared aniline dyes, and, sad to relate, the 
 people have become corrupted in their taste. 
 
 One sees now for sale Bokhara rugs of 
 all shades from a brown to an old rose, but 
 a glance at the under side will usually re- 
 veal the rich red aniline dyes, which on 
 the surface have been toned down (chem- 
 
Kurdish Kelim 
 
CARPET RUGS 129 
 
 ically) to these shades so different from the 
 rich reds of the old vegetable-dyed Bok- 
 hara. There are few rugs that have re- 
 mained so true to the original design as 
 the Bokhara. Travel-pilgrimages and en- 
 croaching civilization have nearly brought 
 to an end the pure tribal designs ; not so 
 vrith the Bokhara, for to this day nothing 
 can induce the Turkoman tribes who weave 
 them to depart from the design handed 
 down to them by their forefathers. Would 
 they had been equally true to their tradi- 
 tions in the matter of dyes ! 
 
 These rugs come in two patterns known 
 in the East by the name of Tekke and 
 Royal. The prayer rugs are called Tekke 
 from their use in the Tekkes or places of 
 worship of the Dervish sects to which these 
 tribes belong. In the interior of Turkey 
 the tombs of saints are also called Tekkes, 
 and Mohammedans make pilgrimages to 
 them as the Catholics do to their shrines. 
 The word " Tekke," however, unless quali- 
 fied, always means a place of Dervish wor- 
 
130 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 ship, and by the term " Dervish " one must 
 not think them always to be of the howl- 
 ing or whirling kind, for there are many 
 sects of Dervishes whose form of worship 
 has nothing of the spectacular about it. 
 
 The prayer niche of the Tekke Bok- 
 hara is almost octagonal in shape, and one 
 scarcely notices it at a first glance. These 
 prayer rugs are always divided into four 
 sections, the field in each section being in- 
 variably covered with a fine design repre- 
 senting candlesticks (candles in profusion 
 are used in the Dervish Tekkes). The 
 bands that divide the field into four sections 
 always contain strictly tribal or family de- 
 signs and vary in different rugs, so that 
 even in a large collection one will seldom 
 find two rugs with the same designs in the 
 border and upon these transverse bands. 
 The Armenians call these rugs Khatchli 
 Bokharas, for the reason that the bands 
 that divide the field into four sections form 
 a cross, and the word " Khatchli " in the 
 Armenian language means " a cross." 
 
CARPET RUGS 131 
 
 The Royal design or pattern is the octa- 
 gon that one always associates with a Bok- 
 hara rug. Again we must make a long 
 journey over high mountains to trace this 
 pattern to its home, for the Bokhara octa- 
 gon with its light divisions (its centre light 
 on one side and dark on the other) is of 
 Mongolian origin. It is a conventional- 
 izing for convenience in weaving of the 
 Chinese circle of the zodiac. The eight 
 divisions of location, according to Chinese 
 mythology, were presided over by eight 
 animal deities, just as in all zodiacal repre- 
 sentations the signs are under the control 
 of presiding forces. The powers of light 
 and powers of darkness formed the two 
 extremes, and in the weaving the colours 
 representing these powers are given in their 
 proper location, but the figures are omitted 
 as would be expected in a Mohammedan 
 representation. 
 
 The Yomoud Bokhara are large rugs 
 in colour resembling the so-called Bokhara 
 proper, but borrowing in design from the 
 
132 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Daghestan, Shirvan, and other Caucasian 
 weaves. Geometrical and rectilinear de- 
 signs prevail, the reds of the Bokhara 
 family are used for the background but the 
 blues and bright yellows are skilfully in- 
 troduced. In the borders, and frequently 
 around the diamond-shaped and octagonal 
 figures in the field, the latch-hook design is 
 to be found. These rugs have a coarse, 
 wide selvedge which sometimes is worked 
 in squares or checker fashion in red, blue, 
 and brown ; this selvedge is always in the 
 kelim stitch. They have the striped web 
 end and the long fringe of goats' hair pe- 
 culiar to the rugs made in this region. 
 The Afghan Bokharas are heavy carpets 
 containing the Bokhara octagon much en- 
 larged, set in the red field with no small 
 designs to fill in the background. They 
 sometimes have a touch of white and yel- 
 low in the octagon ; the borders frequently 
 contain crude flower forms. They are fin- 
 ished with a coarse, straggling, grayish- 
 brown fringe. The Khiva Bokharas are 
 
Senne Kelim 
 
CARPET RUGS 133 
 
 easily mistaken for the real ones; but a 
 close examination will reveal the difference, 
 as they are of much coarser weave, the 
 octagonal design is softened and not so 
 closely followed, and sometimes animal 
 forms are introduced into the field and 
 border. A variety of these Turkoman car- 
 pets, now rarely seen in the market, is the 
 Bushir or Beshir. The reds are lighter in 
 tone than in the Bokharas and show less 
 of the brownish tinge ; dull yellows are 
 used sparingly and very little white. The 
 figures are larger and the border has the 
 saw-tooth arrangement found in some Per- 
 sian rugs. 
 
 SAMARKAND 
 Samarkand rugs to even the most cas- 
 ual observer suggest Mongolian influence. 
 The central field is covered with the 
 Chinese fret in red on a blue ground or 
 vice versa, reds and blues being the prevail- 
 ing tones. Round medallions from one to 
 five are set on this background and con- 
 
134 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 tain dragon, fish, pheasants, and sometimes 
 flowers. There are usually two borders. 
 These carpets and the Kahgars are first 
 cousins. They have three border stripes as 
 a rule, and terra cottas and pinks are intro- 
 duced into the colour scheme, but the 
 designs are like the Samarkand. 
 
 BELUCHISTAN RUGS 
 
 Made by nomad tribes who inhabit the 
 Kirman Provinces in Persia, they are heavy, 
 rather coarse carpets both as to texture and 
 design. There are hosts of these rugs in 
 the market, but good ones are becoming 
 scarce. They generally have a deep mad- 
 der red background in which stars and 
 even constellations are wrought in white. 
 In some of the old Beluchistans, as in the 
 accompanying illustration, beautiful colour- 
 ing is used in the geometrical design 
 employed. 
 
 A deep weh always extends in either 
 end of this make of rug and is nearly al- 
 ways striped in dark colours, and sometimes. 
 
CARPET RUGS 135 
 
 as in the illustration, a pattern is worked 
 upon this striped web. The sheen of these 
 rugs is one peculiar to themselves. With 
 a pile like velvet and a silken sheen falling 
 over it, the good specimens are indeed 
 beautiful and serve to tone down hghter 
 rugs in a room. 
 
 SADDLE-BAGS AND PILLOWS 
 
 Saddle-bags are the travelling equip- 
 ment of the Orientals, replacing trunks and 
 every sort of travelling bag. They are 
 made from rugs and are stoutly bound with 
 leather, closing at the top with a most in- 
 genious arrangement of leather loops on one 
 side which are put through the holes in the 
 leather binding on the opposite side, and 
 then slipped successively one into the other, 
 forming a regular chain stitch. The last 
 loop is fastened with a sort of wooden but- 
 ton or a padlock. 
 
 They come in all sizes from the very 
 large sort (see illustration) which, sus- 
 pended one on each side, make a pack for an 
 
136 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 animal, to the very small one in which the 
 children carry their school books. Along 
 the route of the railway which the Ger- 
 mans are building to Bagdad and have fin- 
 ished as far as Eregli, the travellers waiting 
 at the stations present a strange appearance 
 in their picturesque Oriental costumes. 
 Most incongruous of all is their baggage, 
 consisting of saddle-bags of every size and 
 colour filled with all sorts of commodities. 
 The iron horse has replaced the Arab steed, 
 but the saddle-bag survives, and I fancy it 
 will be a long time before leather Glad- 
 stones and valises will find favour in the 
 eyes of the Oriental. Let us hope so at 
 least, for travel in Turkey will have lost 
 half its charms when the colour combina- 
 tions in costumes and travel equipment 
 shall give place to the sombre European 
 clothes and common leather bags. Among 
 the rugs that come for saddle-bags one 
 still finds some very choice bits, beautiful 
 Sennas, etc. 
 
 Along the back of the divans in East- 
 
Saddle Bag 
 
CARPET RUGS 137 
 
 ern homes is placed a row of long pil- 
 lows covered with rugs and kelims woven 
 for this purpose. The collector should 
 not overlook these small pieces in his 
 search for beautiful colouring and choice 
 weaving. 
 
 KELIMS 
 
 Kelims, the oldest product of the weaver's 
 loom, are very extensively used in the Orient. 
 They replace rugs almost entirely in the 
 houses of the middle classes, and for this pur- 
 pose the heavy Kurdish kelims are used. 
 These come in one and two pieces, gener- 
 ally the latter, and are sewed together like 
 breadths of carpet. They are woven in stripes 
 usually in dark tones, and a design worked 
 in white is largely employed. They are 
 very durable and could well be used for 
 floor coverings in bed rooms and country 
 houses. 
 
 A coarse sort of kelim called Pallas is 
 used in Turkey for all sorts of things. It 
 replaces kelims in the homes of the poor. 
 
138 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 it is used for saddle-bags, saddle-cloths, 
 covering for horses and mules, and for 
 market bags. It comes in strips about a 
 half a yard wide and from three to five 
 yards long. Even in this the low^est grade 
 of kelim the colours are combined in a 
 charming and effective way. A better 
 grade about a yard wide is sometimes most 
 beautifully embroidered and is used for 
 sacks for transport of grain. In travelling 
 one looks with envy at these lovely sacks 
 piled high on the creaking buffalo carts. 
 The bags with a large compartment for 
 bread and a smaller one on each side for 
 cheese that the shepherds wear on their 
 lonely marches in the mountains are made 
 from this material, embroidered and cov- 
 ered with tufts of wool to keep off the 
 " evil eye." The girdles used by the 
 Kurds for the double purpose of holding 
 up their trousers and carrying their money 
 are also of kelim weave. Most lovely pillow 
 coverings of the same material are to be 
 had, particularly in the region of Konia. 
 
CARPET RUGS 139 
 
 In Oriental houses there are no rooms 
 set apart and furnished as sleeping apart- 
 ments. The beds are simply a mattress 
 filled with cotton or wool and placed at 
 night in any room. A single heavy quilt 
 faced with cotton cloth serves both in 
 winter and summer for covering, for only 
 the girdle and outside coat is removed at 
 night. These mattress beds, together with 
 the bedding, are stored during the day in 
 cupboards or on shelves built into the wall. 
 Wood being so scarce and expensive, these 
 cupboards seldom have any doors, but short 
 kelims are woven to hang in front of them. 
 (See illustration.) Wealthy men, sheiks, 
 brigands, etc., delight in fine trappings for 
 their horses, and exquisite Senna kelims are 
 made for this purpose. Kelims are also 
 used in the place of prayer rugs and are 
 woven with this end in view, the design 
 containing a prayer niche. The Senna 
 kelims woven in the Persian province of 
 that name are the finest made. They come 
 generally only in the cupboard size and for 
 
I40 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 saddle blankets. They have the open-work 
 design in the weave and some of them are 
 as fine as pocket handkerchiefs ; such is the 
 quality of the one shown in the colour plate. 
 The finer Turkish kelims with a border, 
 which are used in America for portieres and 
 to which the name Kis Kelim is given, are 
 not known by this name in the Orient. 
 These kelims are mostly made in the vicin- 
 ity of Malatia, are not embroidered, and have 
 an open-work pattern in the weaving, so 
 that when held up to the light there appear 
 to be holes all through the fabric, but 
 closer scrutiny will reveal a regular pattern. 
 The design of these kelims form large 
 medallions as they are originally sewed 
 together with the borders on the outside ; 
 this medallion design is particularly char- 
 acteristic of the Malatia weave. Malatia is 
 a town in Asia Minor not far distant from 
 the Euphrates River and is situated on the 
 main caravan and post route from the coast 
 to Diabekir and Mosul. The population 
 is mostly Armenian, and it is these people 
 
Allepo Kelim. Malatia Kelim 
 
CARPET RUGS 141 
 
 who make the kelims and very durable and 
 beautiful embroidered table covers and 
 aprons. Single kelims are also woven here, 
 large enough for divan and couch covers 
 and much more sanitary than upholstery. 
 
 Aleppo is also a great centre for kelim 
 weaving. The Aleppo kelim is generally 
 finer and has more open work than the 
 Malatia. They seldom, if ever, have the 
 medallion design, and the colourings are 
 much softer and suggest more the old Per- 
 sian combinations. They are the most ex- 
 pensive of the Turkish make. The Bagdad 
 portieres or strips of which the modern 
 djijims are an imitation were once very 
 common in the market, but even in Bagdad 
 they have sadly deteriorated, and the fine 
 specimens are exceedingly difficult to ob- 
 tain. I was never able to find but one of 
 the bride Bagdad kelims, as they are called, 
 in which the pattern is outlined with gold 
 thread in the centre stripe, which is so 
 effective against the beautiful rich-toned red 
 which is always the colour of this section of 
 
142 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 the curtain. In olden times these curtains 
 were the chief article in the bride's trous- 
 seau, and years were spent in making it as 
 beautiful as possible. To meet the de- 
 mands of the European market small kelims 
 suitable for table covers are woven at all 
 the principal centres of kelim manufacture ; 
 some of these reproduce old patterns and 
 come in beautiful colours. 
 
A FINAL WORD 
 
 Under the old regime of Abdul Hamid 
 "progress" was a tabooed word; no one 
 even dared to think about changing the old 
 order of things. There was no incentive to 
 improvement in any line ; on the contrary, 
 all the mighty influence of the greatest of 
 despots was used to prevent reforms in any 
 direction. In the interior, unpenetrated by 
 railroads and carefully guarded by an army 
 of secret spies lest any new ideas should be 
 introduced, the customs and manner of 
 living dated back to the times of Abraham. 
 With wants so simple, food so cheap, and 
 time of no value, it is little wonder that 
 such beautiful rugs and kelims could be 
 made at so small a cost. Now all is changed ; 
 and with Turkey and Persia under Consti- 
 tutional Governments welcoming modern 
 improvements and civilization, with con- 
 
 143 
 
144 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 cessions granted for railroads from Constan- 
 tinople to Bagdad and from Caesarea to Van 
 Harput, Diabekir, and Mosul, the days are 
 numbered when even in factories men and 
 women are going to work for four and a 
 quarter cents a day and board themselves. 
 It requires no prophetic vision to see that 
 Oriental rugs will be a luxury in the not 
 distant future. Moreover, the rug col- 
 lector and student has no time to lose 
 in gathering the remaining antiques and 
 moderately old rugs hidden away in homes, 
 mosques, and baths in the interior of these 
 countries. 
 
INDEX 
 
3ntiej: 
 
 Abbas Shah, story of son of, 49; weaving in reign of, 48 
 
 Abdul Hamid, policy of, 143 
 
 Ablutions, Mohammedan, "ji 
 
 Afghan rugs, 132 
 
 Aleppo kelims, 141 ; ill., facing 140 
 
 Alexander the Great, weaving designs introduced by, 48 
 
 Americans, prices charged to, 54 
 
 Andromache, lament for Hector, 79 
 
 Apollo, Rhodes assigned to, 94 
 
 Arabs take Persian carpet, 67 
 
 Arabiji, meaning of, 1 26 
 
 Ardebil, carpet of, 69, 71 ; carpet described, 73 ; graves at, 
 
 71 ; mosque of, 70 
 Armenians, kelims made by, 141 ; rugs collected by, 5$ 
 Asia Minor, carpet industry in, 66 
 Asylum, right of, in East, 114 
 Athena, colours used by, 50 
 
 Bagdad, portieres, 141 ; railwray to, 136 
 
 Beads, Mohammedan, 1 1 9 
 
 Beds, Eastern, 139 
 
 Beluchistan rugs, 134; ill., facing 120 
 
 Bergamo rugs. See Pergamos 
 
 Berlin, Eastern carpet at, 75; Pergamos frieze at, 96 
 
 Beshir rugs. See Bushir 
 
148 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Billioti brothers, excavations made by, 94 
 Bokhara rugs, 128; ills., facing 112, 116 
 Burial rugs, 78 
 Bushir carpets, 133 
 
 Camel's hair in rugs, 29 
 
 Carpet, in Berlin museum, 75; derivation of word, 63; ear- 
 liest use of, 63; of gold and jewels, 68; history of, 67; 
 modern factories for, 64; Oriental Manufacturers' Com- 
 pany, Limited, 65; sacred, 82; sacred, ill., facing 82; of 
 stone, 46 
 
 "Carpet knight," meaning of, 63 
 
 Carpet rugs, 63. See also Rugs 
 
 Caucasian rugs, 118 
 
 Caucasus, situation of, 118 
 
 Cave dwellers, 45 
 
 Caesarea, carpet industry at, 80 
 
 Ctesiphon, carpet from, 67 
 
 Chelebi, the grand, visit to, 82 
 
 China, designs from, 47; influence on carpet designs, 75, 
 118, 131, 133; Moslem mission to, 49; conception of 
 zodiac, 131 
 
 Clarijo, Gonzales de, visits Timur, 76 
 
 Cochineal, dye from, 27 
 
 Colour of rugs, 25; ill., facing 26; different streak of, 31; 
 doctored, 37; list of, 32; symbolism of, 49 
 
 Constantinople, buying of rugs at, 53 
 
 Cranes in carpet design, 75 
 
 Cross in rug design, 126, 130 
 
 Cypress trees, in cemeteries, 79; at shrines, 71 
 
 Daghestan rugs, 118; ill., facing 28 
 David, signet of, ill., 93 
 
INDEX 149 
 
 Dersim mountains, inhabitants of, 102 
 
 Dervishes, fezzes of, 83; head of, 82; places of worship, 129 
 Devotees, Mohatpmedan, 70 
 Divans, pillows of, 136; rugs for, 8 
 
 Dyeing of rugs, 25; list of colours, 32; importance of profes- 
 sion, 29; villages devoted to, 30 
 
 Egyptians, symbol of immortality, 50; weaving of, 9 
 
 £l-ayassi, meaning of, 1 1 1 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, trouble with Persia, 72 
 
 "Evil Eye," 31, 32; charms for, 97, 138 
 
 Ferehan rugs, lll; ill., facing 30 
 Fire worshippers, symbol of, 122 
 
 Gardens, Eastern, 68 
 
 Ghiordes knot, in Herat rugs, 1 1 2; ill., 13 
 Ghiordes rugs, 86; ills., facing 64, 68; with Pergamos pat- 
 tern, 98 
 Ghorevan carpets, 64 
 Ghorevan rugs, 1 1 5 
 Goats in Persia and Turkey, 19 
 Gorevan. See Ghorevan 
 Greeks, weaving by, 9 
 Guides, Eastern, commission paid to, 53 
 
 Hammedan rugs, 113; ill., facing 56 
 
 Harput, factory at, 67; various spellings of, 1 21 
 
 Hector, lament for, 79 
 
 Herat, situation of, 1 1 1 
 
 Herat rugs, lii; ill., facing 8 
 
 Hereke, rug factory at, 8 1 
 
 Horse-shoe in rug designs, 49 
 
ISO RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Indigo, dye from, z6, 28 
 Interpreters, commission made by, 55 
 Ismail, Shah, 69 
 
 "Jahra" berries, dye from, z8 
 
 Jews, symbols of, adopted by Mohammedans, 119 
 
 Kaaba, at Mecca, 84 
 
 Kabistan rugs, izi; ills., facing 104, 1 08 
 
 Kahgar rugs, 134 
 
 Kaiser Frederick Museum, carpet at, 75 
 
 Kara Osman Oghlou rugs, 89; ill., facing 14 
 
 Kashmere rugs. See Sumac 
 
 Kazak rugs, 123; ill., facing 54 
 
 Kelims, 5, 7, 137; ills., facing iz8, 132, 140; bride, 141; 
 
 used for portieres, 140; rugs resembling, 125 
 Kermanshah rugs. See Tabriz 
 Khatchli rugs. See Tekke 
 Khiva rugs, 1 3 z 
 Khoaru I, carpet made for, 68 
 Khorasan rugs, 117 
 
 Kirman rugs, 104, 134; ill., feeing 48 
 Kirmansha rugs, 104 
 Kis kelims, 140 
 Kisilbach, religion of, 1 26 
 Knot of destiny, in Sumac rugs, 127; ill., loi 
 Konia, carpet at, 82; design, 96 ; modern weaving, 1 00 
 Koran, used in adornment, 1 5 ; law as to beverages, 84; verse 
 
 from Psalms in, 70 
 Kuba rugs, 121; ill., facing 38 
 Kubistan. See Kabistan 
 Kulah rugs, 90; ills., frontispiece and facing 40, 88; borders 
 
 of, 88, 93 
 
INDEX 151 
 
 Kurdish, 102 
 
 Kurds, 102 ; camps of, 4 
 
 Ladik rugs, 92 ; ill., facing 84; designs, ill., 93 
 
 Lambs, combing from, 19 
 
 Lamps, in mosques, 73 
 
 Laodicea, rugs made at, 92 
 
 Lesghian strip, 124; ill., facing 46 
 
 Lily of the Nile, 47 
 
 Looms, antiquity of, 9 ; primitive, I o 
 
 Lotus plant, in rug designs, 48 
 
 Madder, dye from, 27 
 
 Magnesia, palace at, 88 
 
 Maksuod of Kashan, maker of Ardebil carpet, 74 
 
 Malatia, situation of, 1 40 
 
 Malatia kelims, 140; ill., facing 140 
 
 Mecca, black stone of, 84 ; pilgrimage to, 84 ; praying 
 towards, 77 ; Sultan's gift to, 85 
 
 Melez rugs, 98 ; ill., facing 4 
 
 Melhaz. See Melez 
 
 Meshed rugs, 64, 1 1 7 
 
 Miracle, Mohammedan, 70 
 
 Mohammed, forms designed by, 76 
 
 Mohammedans, burial rites of, 78 ; ceremonies of, 76 ; mis- 
 sion to China, 47 ; belief on incorrupt bodies, 70 ; Ismail 
 establishes religion of, 69 ; Jewish symbols adopted by, 
 119; Kisilbach hated by, iz6; rosary of, 119; two 
 sects in, 19 
 
 Morgan, J. Pierpont, lamps belonging to, 73 
 
 Morris, William, obtains carpet, 75 
 
 Mosques, lamps of, 87 ; rugs from, 57 ; custom regarding 
 shoes, 72 ; built over tombs, 70 
 
152 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Mosul carpets, loo; ills., facing lOO, 124 
 Muskabad. See Meshed 
 
 New York, doctoring of rugs in, 38 
 Nile, lily of the, 47 
 Nineveh, site of, 100 
 
 Oriental Manufacturers' Company, Limited, 65 
 
 Pallas kelims, 137 
 
 Paper, Chinese, 47 
 
 "Pashim," meaning of, 20 
 
 Patriarchal system, in the East, 10 
 
 Pear pattern, 109 
 
 Penelope, weaving of, 9 
 
 Pergamos, history of, 96 
 
 Pergamos rugs, 96 ; ills., facing 92, 96, and cover 
 
 Persia, carpet factories in, 64 ; Chinese designs introduced 
 into, 48 ; trouble wfith Elizabeth, 72 ; language of, vow- 
 els in, 121; Mohammedanism established in, 69 ; ori^- 
 nal inhabitants of, 6 ; patriarchal system in, 10; recent 
 progress in, 1 43 ; religion of, 14; sheep and goats of, 
 1 9 ; weaving in, in sixteenth century, 48 
 
 Persian rugs, 12, 80, 103 ; ills., 13 and facing 72, 80; 
 designs in, 47 ; various grades of, 64 
 
 Pictures, Mohammedan attitude towards, 1 5 
 
 Pilgrimages, Mohammedan, 70 
 
 Pillows, of divans, 137 
 
 Polo, Marco, on Persian rugs, 104 
 
 Pomegranates, decorative use of, 83 
 
 Prayer niches, 77 ; of Ghiordes rugs, 87 ; of Kulah rugs, 
 90; ofLadik rugs, 93, 96; of Tekke rugs, 130 
 
INDEX I S3 
 
 Prayer rugs, 76 ; of Cssarea, 81 ; colours in, 78 ; Ghiordes, 
 87 ; kelims used for, 139 j Persian, ill., facing 72 
 
 Rhodes, coins of, ill., 95 ; legend of, 94; stx)ne carpets in, 
 
 46 
 
 Rhodian lily, 95 j in rug designs, 94 
 
 Romans, weaving by, 9 
 
 Rosary, Mohammedan, 119 
 
 Royal rugs, 1 3 1 ; ill., facing 1 1 2 
 
 Rugs, of period of Shah Abbas, 48 ; black, 29 ; burial, 78 ; 
 buying of, in the East, 53 ; carpet, 63 ; choice old, 55 ; 
 classification of, 12; design of, 45; doctored, 37, 56; 
 dyeing of, see Dyeing ; hearth, 7, 114; implements' used 
 in making, 16; inscriptions on, 46; knots in, 14; 
 making of, 5 ; from mosques, 57 ; Persian, see Persian 
 rugs ; prayer, see Prayer rugs ; silk, 80 ; silken sheen 
 on, 39 ; of stone, 46 ; Turkish, see Turkish rugs ; 
 unevenness of, 11 ; method of wearing, 10 
 
 Runners, 64 ; trade in 8 
 
 Saddle-bags, 135, 138; ill., facing 136 
 
 St. Peter's, Rome, doors of, 80 
 
 Samarkand rugs, 133 ; ill., facing 133 ; purchase of one, 58 
 
 Saraband rugs, 109 ; ill., facing 76 
 
 Sarakh rugs, 108 ; ill., facing 20 
 
 Seal, of blood, no 
 
 Senna kelims, 139; ill., &cing 132 
 
 Senna knot in Ferehan rugs, 112; ill., 1 3 
 
 Senna rugs, 107 
 
 Serapi rugs, 116 
 
 Sheep, in Persia and Turkey, 19 
 
 Shiites, liberality 'of, i $ 
 
 Shiraz rugs, 1 1 5 
 
154 RUGS IN THEIR NATIVE LAND 
 
 Shirvan rugs, 1 18 ; ill., facing lo 
 
 Sirab, rags made at, 1 1 6 
 
 Smyrna, rugs, 64; rug business in, 53, 65; rug fectory at, 
 
 85 ; process-used by Syndicate, 41 
 Solomon, seal of, ill., 93 
 South Kensington Museum, carpet at, 75 
 Spindle, ill., 21 
 
 Stambul, buying of rags in, 54 
 Sultan of Turkey, spiritual position of, 85 
 Sumac rags, 125 ; ill., facing 58 
 Sunnites, beliefs of, 14 
 Swastika symbol, 120 
 Symbolism of colours, 50 ; on rags, 46 
 
 Tabriz rags, 104 
 
 Taj Mahal, trees around, 80 
 
 Tamasp, carpet made for, 71 
 
 Tekke rugs, 129 ; pattern of, ill., facing 116 
 
 Telephos at Pergamos, 96 
 
 Tents, Kurdish, 5 
 
 Timur, insignia of, 76 
 
 Tocat, bridge at, 3 
 
 Transcaucasus, carpets from, 125 
 
 Triangle as symbol, 119 
 
 Tumeric, dye from, 28 
 
 Turkish rugs, 12, 80 85 ; ill., 13 ; in carpet sizes, 64; 
 in Smyrna, 65 
 
 Turkoman rugs, 127 
 
 Turks, beads of, 119; courtyards of, ^6 ; language of, vow- 
 els in, 121 ; offerings to mosques, 57 ; patriarchal system 
 of, 10; recent progress of, 1 43 ; religion of^ 1 4 ; sheep 
 and goats of, 19 ; wine of, 84 
 
 Tzitzi rags, 1 24 
 
INDEX iSS 
 
 Warp and weft, in antiquity, 9 
 
 Weaving, history of, 8 ; in Persia, in sixteenth centuryj 48 ; 
 
 symbolism in, 46 
 Wool, ofKirman, 104; preparation of, 19 
 
 YoMOUD rugs, 131 
 
 Zodiac, Chinese conception of, 131