Oriental Rugs Part 7

(_b_) Trans Caucasian: Baku, Shirvan, Soumak, Shemakha, Tiflis, Kutais, Kazak, Karabagh, Shusha, Gengha.

GROUP IV. CENTRAL ASIATIC.

(_a_) West Turkoman sub-group, Western influence: Royal Bokhara, Princess Bokhara, Tekke, Yomud, Khiva, Afghan, Beshir.

(_b_) East Turkoman sub-group, Eastern influence: Samarkand, Kashgar, Yarkand.

(_c_) Beluchistan.

GROUP V. INDIAN.

(_a_) Northern India: Srinagar, Amritsar, Lah.o.r.e, Multan, Agra, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Zabalpur, Patna, Jaipur.

(_b_) Southern India: Madras, Mysore, Bangalore, Warangal, Malabar, Hyderabad, Marsulipatam.

GROUP VI. CHINESE.[16]

(_a_) XVII Century: Late Ming 1600-1643 and Early Kang-hi (1662-1700).

(_b_) XVIII Century: 1. Late Kang-hi (1700-1722). 2. Yung-ching (1722-1736).

3. Keen-lung (1736-1795).

(_c_) Early and Middle XIX Century.

(_d_) Late XIX Century or Modern.

CHAPTER IX

PERSIAN RUGS

IN the grouping of Oriental rugs, it is not always desirable to follow the present political divisions of territory, since great and frequent changes in national boundaries have occurred without corresponding changes in the traditional style of weaving. Thus it happens that with the rugs made in Persia, which is still called Iran by its inhabitants, it is desirable to group those made within that former Iran that included the valley of Mesopotamia on the west and part of Afghanistan on the east. The woven products of all this territory have characteristics that are similar to one another and that differentiate them from those of other countries. Their patterns are distinctly floral, representing leaf, bud, and flower, and show a tendency to naturalistic drawing with graceful and often intricate lines. Moreover, their colour schemes of delicate tones are not only beautiful but in perfect harmony. In marked contrast with them are the rugs of Caucasia, Asia Minor, and Central Asia, which have patterns of geometric shape or highly conventionalised flower forms, and colours that often appear in bold contrast. In the Chinese rugs, also, is generally less harmony of colour, as well as less co-ordination of design, than in the Persian.

The scroll and floral patterns appear on the field in isolated figures, or else imitate with more formal drawing the diaper pattern of some Iranian carpets. Only in the rugs of India is there a similarity to the patterns and colour tones of those of Persia; but the designs are more realistically drawn, less artistically arranged, and less profuse.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _COLOUR PLATE IV-BERGAMO RUG_

_The weaver of this interesting Bergamo followed the early Asia Minor traditions in the use of rich, deep blue and red of field and border, yet in respect to pattern showed his freedom from conventionality by departing from types peculiar to his district and adopting many nomadic designs prevalent throughout Anatolia. Reciprocal latch-hooks form the background of the central field, on which are three upright panels containing octagonal discs; and latch-hooks surrounding lozenges and forming what may originally have been intended to represent the tree of life appear almost as conspicuously in the border. There are also combs, knots of destiny, and innumerable S-forms. The panels at the upper and lower ends of the field and the reciprocal vand.y.k.es are most suggestive of Ladiks, but in the place of pomegranates at the ends of the upright stalks are small checquered squares. Bergamos with such patterns are now rarely seen._

_Loaned by Mr. Hulett C. Merritt_]

The similarity in the rugs of the Persian group is due to past political influences as well as to common ties of race and religion. From the time when Ctesiphon and Babylon vied with the cities of Persia in the splendour of their capitals, all of this territory was repeatedly under one and the same dominant power, which at different times was held by Saracens, Seljukian Turks, Timurids, and Safavids; and even after the end of the Safavid dynasty the influence of Nadir Shah was felt over Mesopotamia as well as Western Afghanistan. A still stronger influence is that of race; for Aryans, Arabs, Armenians, and Turks have blended with the early people of the whole territory, until not only do all resemble one another, but their craftsmanship is similar. Furthermore, with the exception of a few rapidly disappearing Pa.r.s.ees, who still cling to the early Zoroastrian faith, all are Mohammedans; and in their frequent pilgrimages to the same shrines is a constant interchange of ideas and exchange of fabrics. It is true Asia Minor, Caucasia, and India have shared to some extent the same influences, but to a much less degree.

A resemblance, also, exists between many of the physical features of the entire country that affect the habits and industries of the people. To be sure the Euphrates and Tigris, that wind sluggishly through the great Mesopotamian valley, and the great ranges of the Elburz and Zagros, that extend from Mt. Ararat easterly and southeasterly through Persia, have no counterpart; but on the other hand in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Western Afghanistan are great stretches of sandy wastes where there is little vegetation, high table-lands where during rainless summer months the earth is parched, and little valleys of fertile soil that are watered by streams from the encircling mountain ridges. Throughout this territory, wherever physical conditions are similar, the people follow similar pursuits. In the deserts the impoverished Bedouins live; in the higher lands some two millions of nomads follow their sheep and goats, pitching their tents wherever there is pasture; in the valleys are several millions of people, who, with the placid contentment of the East, irrigate their garden patches, fashion simple articles of metal, and weave artistic rugs.

A general decadence in social, political, and industrial life pervades the whole country; yet due partly to the inheritance of a past a.s.sociated with the glories of Persepolis and Ecbatana, Babylon and Nineveh, Bagdad and Ctesiphon, and to the more immediate influence of the textile masterpieces of three centuries ago, rugs are still produced that in delicacy of weave, beauty of design, and harmony of colours surpa.s.s those of any other part of the world. In the weave of the best examples is displayed a technical skill only approached by a few of the Royal Bokharas. In the fine rhythm of lines and in the colour scheme of harmonious and delicate tones, with which a few of the best products of India alone compare, is united the touch of both artist and artisan. The fields of the old pieces are lavishly covered with intricate designs of buds and blossoms supported by vines or tendrils, and frequently encircled by arabesques that interlace so as to form an harmonious whole. The fields of the modern pieces are frequently of solid colour, with central medallions and triangular corners defined by graceful lines. Again, the ground colour of the field, which is either uniform or slightly shading from one end to the other, is covered with realistically drawn or conventionalised floral designs that are arranged with studied precision, and are now and then relieved by some nomadic design. Surrounding the fields are borders of several stripes, some of which contain an undulating vine with pendent flowers or palmettes co-ordinate in drawing and colouring with the main pattern. It is, however, princ.i.p.ally in the colours, which are delicate yet rich, subdued yet l.u.s.trous, that these rugs surpa.s.s all others. Their most distinctive tones are blues, reds, browns, and greens, so arranged that the ground colours of border and field generally contrast yet remain in perfect harmony; as where there is some moss green in border and wine colour in field, each being subordinated to other superimposed colours representing floral detail.

[ILl.u.s.tRATION: MAP OF PERSIA]

The best known of the floral patterns, repeated with formal precision throughout the field, is the Herati pattern, which is of uncertain antiquity and origin. It consists of a central figure that generally represents a rose, but sometimes a peony or rosette, about which are grouped other figures like crumpled or lance-shaped leaves. Probably both the central and encircling figures are of Persian origin, though the latter have been regarded by some authorities as representing fish and attributed to Egypt or to China; in fact, they are occasionally drawn so as distinctly to show eyes and fins. Very frequently four of these figures are arranged about a lattice-shaped design with pendants and a central rosette, as in Plate O, Fig. 4 (Page 291). This Herati or Fish Pattern, as it is frequently called, appears in many of the old Persian rugs and in most of the modern pieces, particularly the Feraghans and Herats. A less frequently seen floral pattern, which has been used from a very remote time and is still represented in modern rugs, is the Guli Hinnai, or Flower of Hinnai (Plate O, Fig. 3). Of this plant Mohammed was so fond that he called it the "chief of this world and the next."

It occurs as a formal pattern in many of the Feraghans, and in several other rugs in which its bright five-petalled flowers are scattered informally over the field. Another floral pattern frequently seen is the Mina Khani, ill.u.s.trated in Plate O, Fig. 2, that was named after Mina Khan, a former Persian ruler. It is particularly characteristic of Persian Kurdish pieces in which a dark blue field is covered by a network of intersecting olive-coloured vines. At the intersections are placed large flowers that alternate in regular series according to their different designs and colours; and between them often appear other flowers, such as the smaller and brighter coloured Hinnai, so as to destroy too great stiffness of design. As the flowers are relatively large and sufficiently separate to show the intervening blue field, this is one of the most effective of the formal repet.i.tive floral patterns. A still more formal pattern (Plate O, Fig. 1), which appeared in some of the Persian rugs of the XVI and XVII centuries, was named after Shah Abbas. It is not unlikely that it was suggested by the Mina Khani design, to which it bears a slight resemblance; but the princ.i.p.al motive is so conventionalised that it has lost much of the floral character.

Between the large and formal palmettes, that are arranged with mathematical precision, are grouped with similar regularity smaller palmettes, connected by angular vines and leafy branches.

Only a few Persian rugs have the formal repet.i.tive patterns, such as the Herati, Guli Hinnai, Mina Khani, and Shah Abbas. Others have the repet.i.tive pattern of bushes, flowers, or the pear, on a field of rich colour. The remainder have patterns consisting largely of scrolls, vines, or tendrils, drawn with exquisite art and decorated with leaves, flowers, and buds in beautiful profusion; also birds, beasts, human beings, demons, and other imaginary shapes, sometimes a.s.sociated with the foliage but frequently bearing no apparent relation to it, appear as special motives. Since many of these forms, which originated in the remote past, have been transplanted from one country to another, and conventionalised to meet the new environment, it is interesting to observe the designs in the different cla.s.ses of rugs and trace as far as possible the influences to which they are due.

HERATS.-On great lines of travel between India, Turkestan, and Persia, the city of Herat in Northwestern Afghanistan for centuries occupied commercially a most important position, so that its people long since became familiar with the best fabrics of the surrounding countries.

During the XV Century it reached its greatest prosperity, and exerted an important influence on the art and culture of Western Asia. Before the art decadence that followed the capture of the city by Nadir Shah in 1731, and the removal of many of its artisans to Persia, its looms were producing some of the best rugs of the Orient, which excelled in delicacy of drawing and in perfect harmony of colours. The fields contained patterns of serrated leaves entwined with flowing arabesques, scrolls, and Chinese cloud-bands. Conspicuous among this tracery were palmettes and such flowers as the lotus and peony, which were often most realistically drawn.[17] These rugs are of further interest, as they contained in field and border the design that, slightly changed, appears in many of the later rugs of Persia as the Herati pattern.

The modern rugs are as unlike other Afghans as were the antique pieces and show a close relationship to those of Persia. Nor is this surprising, as the weavers, though falling far short of the high standards of the time when Herat was part of Persia, are still mindful of the early traditions. Moreover, many of the rugs are made across the border in Khora.s.san, and have the silky pile peculiar to the rugs of that province; but their tones of colour, consisting princ.i.p.ally of red or blue in the field, and light green, yellow, and ivory in the border, as well as most of the patterns, are dissimilar. In one type the fields are covered with pear designs; but their bent narrow ends always turn in the same direction, whilst those of other rugs turn in different directions in alternate rows. Another type suggests the Feraghans, because their fields are covered with the Herati or Fish pattern; but the borders of the Feraghans usually have the well-known turtle pattern, while the borders of these adhere to the traditional Herati design. It is also not unusual to see a large central medallion, in which blue or red predominates, separated by a field of lighter colour from the triangular patterns of the corners. Now and then, a nomadic influence is seen in the small advent.i.tious figures of the field.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 24. BIJAR RUG]

One of the most characteristic features of this cla.s.s are the borders, that generally have three stripes, of which the central consists of a continuous vine of crumpled leaves so conventionalised as to be merely bent, th.o.r.n.y stalks partly enveloping formal rosettes. The other stripes are narrow, and have some simple undulating vine. This typical border, the stout, closely woven warp and weft of cotton, their large, almost square shapes and rather coa.r.s.e weave, are important aids in distinguishing this cla.s.s from all others. Some of the rugs recently made are coa.r.s.e; but the older rugs have excellent dyes, l.u.s.trous nap, and matured tones of well-blended colours.

_Type Characteristics._[18] _Colours_, princ.i.p.ally red and blue with minor quant.i.ties of green, yellow, and ivory. _Knot_, Ghiordes, rarely Sehna. Knots to inch horizontally, eight to eleven; perpendicularly, nine to twelve. A half knot, as it appears at back, is about as long, measured in direction of length of rug, as wide.[19] The rows of knots are firmly pressed down so that the warp is concealed at back. _Warp_, of cotton, rarely wool; one of the two threads encircled by a knot is generally doubled under the other, sometimes it is only depressed.

_Weft_, wool, occasionally cotton; of coa.r.s.e diameter. For a short s.p.a.ce a thread of weft crosses twice, that is across and back once, between every two rows of knots, then three times, and so alternates every several rows. _Pile_, wool of medium length, soft, and silky. _Border_, three to five stripes, and frequently an outer edging of uniform colour.

_Sides_, a double overcasting. _Both ends_, narrow web and loose warp fringe. _Texture_, stout and firm. _Weave_ at back is of coa.r.s.e grain.

_Usual length_, eight to twenty feet. _Usual width_, three fifths to three quarters length.

KHORa.s.sANS.-Among Iranians, Khora.s.san is often spoken of as the Land of the Sun. In its northern part are long ranges of mountains where herds and flocks find excellent pastures, and intervening valleys where the soil is cultivated. But the remainder of the province, with the exception of scattered oases, where small towns and villages are located, is almost entirely a desert, from which in cla.s.sic times the Parthians advanced to hara.s.s the armies of Greece and Rome, then retreated to seek the protection of its vast salt marshes and inhospitable wastes.

Nevertheless, in the little villages surrounded by a dreary wilderness have been produced as beautiful rugs as in those more favoured spots where prevailed cultured influences that could develop an Omar Khayyam and produce the sacred shrine of Meshed. Even before the Mongolian invasion several hundred looms, each employing four or five women, were busy in the town of Toon in Central Khora.s.san. Lying farther to the east is the district of Kain, which was once renowned for its beautiful rugs of Herati pattern, but of later years has produced coa.r.s.er pieces with inferior designs and bad colours. Still better known was Birjand, in the southeastern part of the province, where formerly were woven pieces of superior workmanship that contained from two hundred to three hundred knots to the square inch. Their colours were of delicate shades; and it was not unusual to employ ivory or other light tones for the ground, with which was contrasted the darker tones of the Herati or pear patterns. Over a century ago many such towns in Khora.s.san were weaving rugs of artistic design and beautiful colours, but as a rule the present products fall far below the early standards.

Most of the Khora.s.sans now seen were made almost fifty years or more ago and rival the best of modern Persian rugs. As a rule, they are of large size and have closely woven texture. They can be distinguished from most others by the silkiness of their moderately long nap, which is often due to the fact that it is from the fleece of a yearling lamb as well as because it is cut long and unevenly. Another characteristic is the use of some shade of red, as a pink, rose, or wine colour. Very frequently it is magenta or even purple, which are rarely found in other Persian rugs. Blue and cream are also largely employed. Their colours are generally softened by age, yet are warm, and at times brilliant, as when a large field of bright rose red or blue surrounds a central medallion.

The diversity of pattern in Khora.s.sans is partly due to copying designs of rugs brought from other provinces by the pilgrims who yearly visit Meshed, and to the remoteness from one another of different centres of weaving in a province occupying one fourth of all Persia. One pattern, however, based upon the treatment of the pear design, which is employed in many of these pieces, at once distinguishes them from rugs of other districts. It consists of large pears arranged in regular order on a field of dark colour with their princ.i.p.al axes inclined diagonally in the same direction, and of two or three much smaller pears partly resting on them and partly projecting beyond their edges. Unlike the pear designs in other Persian rugs, which are oval, these are elongated like those of Indian rugs; and within them, as well as in the field, are often small floral figures. This distinctive pattern is rendered more effective by the colour scheme; since frequently pears of red or magenta, defined by lines of yellow and containing white petalled flowers, rest upon a ground of dark blue. The Herati design is also frequently employed, and in very old pieces are occasionally represented birds and animals naturalistically drawn. It is not unusual to see a central medallion or large vase of flowers surrounded by a field of bright uniform colour, and in some rugs are two medallions. When the centre contains a medallion, the triangular-shaped corners are set off by lines that are much simpler than those in Sarouks and Kermanshahs.

Few other rugs have more noticeable borders; for not only are they very wide, but in the main stripe, which is as wide as several guard stripes, is some characteristic pattern. Occasionally it contains the Herati design, but more frequently it consists of a heavy undulating vine with incipient flower forms, that at times almost a.s.sume the appearance of a bird's head resting on a sub-pattern of double floral vine. This stripe, ill.u.s.trated in Plate E, Fig. 2, (opp. Page 156) is so frequently met with in Khora.s.sans as to be characteristic of them. The narrow guard stripes usually contain some simple vine or ornate reciprocal figure.

_Type Characteristics._ _Colours_, princ.i.p.ally rose, blue, and ivory, with minor quant.i.ties of yellow and green. _Knot_, Sehna. Many are "left-hand." Knots to inch horizontally, eight to thirteen; perpendicularly, twelve to twenty. The rows of knots are firmly pressed down, so that the warp is concealed and the weft is partly hidden at back. _Warp_, cotton; one of the two threads encircled by a knot is doubled under the other. A few short lengths of threads of warp hang loose at the back of some pieces. _Weft_, almost always cotton, occasionally wool of fine diameter and usually dyed blue. A thread of weft crosses twice between two rows of knots, excepting at intervals of every six or eight rows of knots, where it crosses three or more times.

_Pile_, wool of medium length, silky and unevenly clipped. _Border_, three to six stripes, and generally an outer edging of uniform colour.

_Sides_, a double overcasting of same colour as edging. _Both ends_, a narrow web and short warp fringe. _Texture_, moderately firm. _Weave_ at back is of moderately fine grain. _Usual length_, five to twelve feet.

_Usual width_, three fifths to three quarters length.

MESHEDS.-In few parts of the East have the weavers received greater inspiration from sacred and historic a.s.sociation than those of Meshed.

To Shiite Mohammedans it contains the most holy spot in Persia; for within a mosque resplendent with facade of blue and white tiles, and with gilded minarets of exquisite design, lie the remains of Ali Riza, the eighth Imam or Moslem priest, in a tomb that is viewed yearly by nearly one hundred thousand pilgrims. It was for a short time the capital of Shah Abbas, who beautified its mosques; and here Nadir Shah, whose remains lie in the mausoleum, held his court after the capture of Delhi. Within its walls was born Firdousi, the Homer of Persia; and not far away, among the mountains to the west, was the home of the poet and astronomer, Omar Khayyam. Not only devotees but large numbers of merchants regularly visit the city in the caravans from Khiva, Bokhara, Herat, Yezd, and Teheran, so that it is also a city of commercial importance.

It is possible that a few of those matchless pieces which were attributed to Herat before its destruction by Nadir Shah were made in the district near Meshed, since according to an Arabian traveller[20]