OF PERSIAN RUGS, SPECIFICALLY
To describe in detail the characteristics of all the classes of rugs and
carpets that have been mentioned would be hardly possible, even with a
hundred object lessons. The peculiar features of some of them, however,
may be noted. But first be it observed that the term "antique" as applied
to rugs is generally sadly abused. A rug is not beautiful simply because
it is old. It must have been fine when new, it must have been carefully
preserved, and it must rejoice in a ripe old age. Time must have dealt
kindly with it, and only softened and mellowed its original beauties. Let
the antiques which are but rags and tatters, however valuable for their
design, hang in the museums, where they belong! The only merit of one of
these genuine remnants of three or four centuries ago is in their
originality of design. They were creations and not imitations, and made by
true artists and not merely skilled weavers. Choose you, instead, a more
modern rug of fine quality which will improve from year to year as long as
you may live to enjoy it.
It may also be premised that the sizes of rugs run from about three feet
to six feet wide by four to ten feet long. Few rugs approach squareness,
and rugs wider than seven or eight feet are classed as carpets.
Some of the most beautiful pieces used to come, and still do, in the form
of "strips," "hall rugs," or "stair rugs," according to trade parlance.
They are worthy of a better name, which is their Persian term, "Kinari."
They were made in pairs to complete the carpeting of a Persian room, being
placed on either side of a centre rug, with two shorter strips at the top
and bottom. More fine specimens of these long strips are now to be
found than of smaller sizes, and they should not be neglected by the
collector. By artistic arrangement and device they will accommodate
themselves to almost any house, somewhere, and few choicer prizes can be
bought to-day.
[Illustration:
PLATE IV.
ANTIQUE SEHNA
FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE AUTHOR
Size: 2.4 x 3.1
This is apparently one side of a pillow. The other side, which is also in
the possession of the author, is exactly similar, except that the colours
are reversed, the medallion being red and the corners blue. This mat has
33 to 36 knots to the running inch, making over 1,000 to the square inch,
or more than a million knots in the small piece.]
The Persians are eminently the best rugs to buy. They are usually finer
and more closely woven than the others, and more graceful in design, and
seem to show a more refined and aristocratic art. The Kirmans would be the
first choice, and are to the rug dealer what diamonds are to the jeweller,
a staple article which he must keep in stock, and which finds a ready
sale. But even were it possible to buy a true diamond Kirman, the very
catholicity of taste to which diamonds and Kirmans appeal detract from
their merit in the eyes of those who seek for more individuality. For the
new Kirmans, fine, soft, and clean as they look, are all very much alike,
and mostly copies or variations of a few particular antique forms, with a
floriated medallion in the centre, or a full floriated panel, and
floriated corners. A familiar design is a vase of flowers in graceful
spread, with birds perching on the sprays. Or, again, they show some
adaptation of "the tree of life." This symbolical figure appears in many
forms, now denuded of its leaves like the "barren fig tree," and covering
the whole rug, and now in smaller form as "the cypress tree," or the
sacred "cocos," three or more to each rug, in full foliage and looking for
all the world like certain wooden fir trees. It needs only the combination
of these trees with the stiff wooden animals, far more wonderful than Noah
ever knew, and tiny human figures, which might be Shem, Ham, and Japhet,
all of which adorn these rugs, to remind one of the Noah's ark of
childhood. Representations of birds, men, and animals never appear on
Turkish rugs, the explanation being that the Turks, as Sunna Mohammedans,
the orthodox sect, are opposed to them on religious grounds; while the
Shiites, the prevailing sect in Persia, have no such scruples.
But before leaving the subject of the Kirmans, be it well understood, by
the wise and prudent, that not one out of a thousand, or indeed ten
thousand, of those on the market to-day (and they are as common as
door-mats) has any pretence to genuineness. They are faked in every way.
They are washed with chemicals to give them their soft colourings, they
are made by wholesale and, it is said, in part by machinery, and they are
no more an Oriental rug than is a roll of Brussels carpet or an admitted
New Jersey product. To the credit of whom it may concern, it must be
stated that the dipping, washing, and artificial aging of these commercial
pieces is mostly done by cunning adepts in Persia before their works of
art are exported. Only an expert's advice should be relied on in buying a
Kirman, to-day, and even that should have a good endorser. The
distinction between Kirmans and Kirmanshahs was founded in fact and was
important. But the latter term as now used in the trade is only poetical.
It is the same new Kirman euphemized. No other rugs except silk rugs,
which come under the same ban, have proved such a profitable swindle to
unscrupulous and ignorant vendors, and have given a bad name to the
dealers who try to be honest in their calling.
The Sehnas are highly prized by the Orientals and Occidentals. Old
examples are uncommon and are very choice. "Their fabric gives to the
touch the sense of frosted velvet. They reveal the Meissoniers of Oriental
art," says a writer on the subject. Some of these come in very small
sizes, like mats, two feet by three. They have a diamond design, the
centre being a graceful floriated medallion on a background of cream,
yellow, red, or green, with floriation at the corners, making the diamond.
They are the most exquisite of Persian gems, and are further considered
in another chapter.
The Sehnas have the nap cut very close, wellnigh to the warp, and are
therefore often too thin for utility. They do not lie well on the floor,
and by reason of their short nap look cold and lack richness and lustre.
If you can find a choice one, however, and if, happily, as sometimes
occurs, it may have a little depth of nap, you will own a pearl of great
price.
The Khorassans are very soft and thick. They generally show the palm-leaf
or loop design in their borders, and are altogether desirable. Their
colouring almost always inclines to magenta, but time subdues this to a
delicate rose. Time has also subdued most of the specimens offered, to the
sad detriment of their edges and ends. The ends are very seldom perfect,
and age seems to bite into the borders of the Khorassans with a strange
and voracious appetite. It is well to consider these defects in your
choosing.
The Serabends and their class have one border peculiar to themselves and a
centre of double, triple, or multiple diamonds in outline, in which are
scattered irregular rows of small figures, generally palm leaves, so
called. This peculiar figure has three or four different names, the palm
leaf, the pear, the loop, etc. It was originally worked into the fabric of
the finest Cashmere shawls, and represents the loop which the river Indus
makes on the vast plain in upper Cashmere, as seen from the mosque there,
to which thousands made their pilgrimage. It was thus intended as a most
sacred symbol and reminder. The Serabends are firm in texture, lie well,
and are most satisfactory. Sometimes, however, the green in them shows the
faults of an aniline dye. Their designs are peculiar to themselves, but
never become monotonous. The palm-leaf pattern is of course common to many
kinds of rugs. But the varieties in the form and size of it are infinite.
[Illustration:
PLATE V.
CHICHI
_About forty years old_
FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE AUTHOR
Size: 3.6 x 5.10]
The Shiraz rugs are warm in colour, lustrous, but rather loosely woven.
Many of them show the "shawl pattern," small horizontal or diagonal
stripes. These striped rugs, however, are always wavering and irregular in
design and soon tire the eye. They are well passed by. Reproductions of
the old Shiraz designs with the centre field filled with innumerable odd,
small figures used to be common a few years ago. They were very rich and
handsome. Almost all of them, however, have the great defect of being
crooked. They will puff up here or there, and, pat, pull, or pet them as
you may, it is hopeless to try to straighten them. They are frequently
called Mecca rugs, on the generally accepted statement that these are the
rugs usually chosen to make the pilgrimage to that shrine.
The Youraghans and Joshghans (Tjoshghans) possess the general excellences
of the best Persians, but they are not commonly seen. The Joshghans will
show in their field a light lattice-work design with conventionalized
roses, or graceful diaperings and patternings, of the four-petalled or
six-petalled rose. The Persian rose is single, of course, and appears in
many simple forms. The Joshghans might be the prototypes of some of the
old Kubas or Kabistans, except that floriation was replaced by tiling and
mosaic work in the Daghestan region.
The Feraghans are not as finely woven as the Serabends, and on that
account, primarily, yield to them in excellence. But old Feraghans often
come in smaller sizes than the Serabends and in more desirable
proportions. On the other hand, while Feraghans are generally of a firmer
quality, there are also antique Serabends heavy and silky. Between the two
it would be little more than to choose the better specimen. While the
Feraghans have no accepted border to distinguish them, they have a most
marked characteristic in the decoration of the field. It is a figure like
a crescent, toothed inside; it might be a segment of a melon. But more
than likely it was originally a curled-up rose leaf; for the rose,
variously conventionalized, is most common to this class. There is
generally an indication of a trellis, on which the roses are formally
spread. But the curled leaf is almost always in evidence, however varied
or angular it may be drawn.
The Persian Mousuls are perhaps the best rugs now to be had for moderate
prices. The region where they are made, being partly Turkish and partly
Persian, gives them some of the characteristics of each nation. But the
choice ones are always offered as Persian; and the designs of most of them
are distinctively of that country, with frequent use of Serabend borders,
Feraghan figures, etc. Their centre field sometimes contains bold
medallions, but generally it is filled with palm-leaf or similar small
designs, which in themselves are quite monotonous, except as they are
diversified and made beautiful by graduated changes of colour in both the
figures and background. Sometimes these streaks of varying colour make too
strong a contrast, but generally they shade into each other most
harmoniously, and, the nap being heavy and the wool fine, these rugs are
eminently lustrous and silky. They have no rivals in this regard except
among the Beluchistans and treasured Kazaks. As you walk around them they
glow in lights and shades like a Cabochon emerald. One of their
distinguishing designs is a very conventionalized cluster of four roses,
the whole figure being about the bigness of a small hand. There is a rose
at top and bottom and one on either side, with conventionalized leaves to
give grace. The design is recognizable at a glance, and is wellnigh as old
as Persia. For the rose is conceded to be Oriental in origin, and if it is
not primarily a Persian flower, it belongs surely to her by virtue of
first adoption.[1]
The designation of certain rugs as Kurdish or Kurdistan has been used
indiscriminately, yet they are by no means the same, and between the two
classes is a well-marked distinction which should be recognized. Kurdistan
is a large province in northern Persia, with a protectorate government
both Turkish and Persian, and with the Turkish inhabitants in the ratio of
about two to one, according to the geographers. The Kurds constitute only
a small but most important part of the population. They are generally
spoken of as "a nomadic tribe," or more frequently as "that band of
robbers, the Kurds." Regardless, however, of their morals or habits, by
them are made characteristic, coarse, strong, and often superb rugs which
are properly called "Kurdish." On the other hand, the Persians in
Kurdistan make a finer class of rugs and carpets, which are known as
Kurdistans. These latter have been praised by an eminent authority as "the
best rugs now made in Persia and perhaps in the East." They are certainly
bold and splendid in design, beautiful in colouring, and of great strength
and durability.
The Gulistans are thick, heavy, and handsome, with striking designs,
frequently like the flukes of an anchor, on a light ground. They are not
common now even in modern weaving.
There are many other Persian rugs which might be further specialized and
considered. But such old commercial names as Teheran, Ispahan, etc., can
in fact only be differentiated by an expert; and when experts disagree, as
will frequently occur, and when they are at a loss to decide whether an
important specimen is an Ispahan or a Joshghan, classification becomes
obscure to the layman and even to the collector; and he will wisely avoid
the complexities of such discussion. So, also, Sarak rugs are rarely seen
now save in modern reproductions, and must be passed by with the same
criticisms as apply to the new-made Tabriz.