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THE ORIENTAL RUG




[Illustration:

  PLATE I.
  ANTIQUE LADIK
  _Prayer Rug_
  FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. GEORGE H. ELLWANGER
  Size: 3.10 x 6]




  THE ORIENTAL RUG

  A MONOGRAPH ON
  EASTERN RUGS AND CARPETS,
  SADDLE-BAGS, MATS & PILLOWS.
  WITH A CONSIDERATION OF KINDS
  AND CLASSES, TYPES, BORDERS,
  FIGURES, DYES, SYMBOLS ETC.
  TOGETHER WITH SOME PRACTICAL
  ADVICE TO COLLECTORS.


  BY W. D. ELLWANGER

  Author of
  "A Summer Snowflake"


  NEW YORK:
  DODD, MEAD & COMPANY.
  1909



  _Copyright, 1903_
  BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
  Published September, 1903




PREFACE


That Oriental rugs are works of art in the highest sense of the term, and
that fine antique specimens, of even modest size, have a financial value
of ten, fifteen, or thirty-eight thousand dollars, has been recently
determined at public auction. At this auction, several nations had a
representative voice in the bidding, and the standard of price was fairly
established. The value of rugs may have been imaginary and sentimental
heretofore; it is now a definite fact, with figures apparently at the
minimum. What the maximum may prove, remains to be seen.

Choice old rugs, therefore, to-day come into the same class with genuine
paintings of the old Dutch School; with canvases of Teniers, Ruysdael,
Cuyp, Ostade, or whatever similar artist's work may have escaped the
museums. They vie in prestige with the finest examples of Corot, Diaz,
Troyon, or Daubigny; and in monetary supremacy they overtop the rarest and
grandest of Chinese porcelains.

And yet the Oriental rug, as against such competitors for the wealthy
collectors' favour, has hardly a history, and is practically without a
name or a pedigree. Experts will tell you at a glance whether or not your
Wouverman is genuine, or inform you where every true Corot was owned or
whence it was bartered or stolen. In Chinese porcelains, the knowing
dealer will easily prove to you not only under what dynasty but in what
decade or year a particular piece was produced.

The painting has descent, signature, or the brush mark of a school to
father it. The Chinese vase, bowl, or jar has its marks, cyphers, stamps
and dates, and an undoubted genealogy to vouch for its authenticity. The
rug must speak for itself and go upon its intrinsic merits. It is its own
guarantee and certificate of artistic and financial value.

The study of Oriental rugs, therefore, can never lead to an exact science
or approximate dogmatic knowledge. Whoever is interested in them must
needs rely upon his personal judgment or the seller's advice. There is
practically only one current book authority in the premises.

A new volume on the subject would thus seem to be well justified. It is
the hope of the author that this book may prove itself sound and
practical, and that it may help to make more clear and simple the right
appreciation of a valuable rug.


W. D. ELLWANGER

ROCHESTER, N.Y., 1903




CONTENTS


  Chapter                                                 Page

     I. THE MYSTERY OF THE RUG                               3

    II. GENERAL CLASSIFICATION                              13

   III. OF THE MAKING, AND OF DESIGNS, BORDERS, ETC.        21

    IV. OF THE DYEING                                       35

     V. OF PERSIAN RUGS, SPECIFICALLY                       43

    VI. CAUCASIAN RUGS, DAGHESTAN AND RUSSIAN TYPES         61

   VII. OF TURKISH VARIETIES                                69

  VIII. TURKOMAN OR TURKESTAN RUGS                          79

    IX. OF ORIENTAL CARPETS, SADDLE-BAGS, PILLOWS, ETC.     93

     X. AUCTIONS, AUCTIONEERS, AND DEALERS                 107

    XI. INSCRIPTIONS AND DATES                             121

   XII. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND PARTICULAR ADVICE         131




LIST OF PLATES


  PLATE

     I. LADIK              _Frontispiece_

    II. KONIAH           _Facing page_ 22

   III. KAZAK                "    "    36

    IV. SEHNA                "    "    44

     V. CHICHI               "    "    50

    VI. KABISTAN             "    "    62

   VII. GHEORDEZ             "    "    70

  VIII. KOULAH               "    "    72

    IX. MELEZ                "    "    74

     X. BELUCHISTAN          "    "    80

    XI. ANATOLIAN PILLOWS    "    "    94

   XII. BERGAMA              "    "   124




The Oriental Rug




CHAPTER I

THE MYSTERY OF THE RUG


To judge of an Oriental rug rightly, it must be looked at from several
points of view, or, at least, from two aspects; against the light and with
the light. From the first standpoint, against the light of knowledge,
speaking figuratively, there may be seen only a number of rude and awkward
figures in crude colours scattered erratically on a dark or dingy-looking
background, a fringe of coarse and ragged strings at either end, and rough
frays of yarn at the sides. This is what is accepted by many people as an
Oriental rug. And indeed this is what most rugs are.

If, on the other hand, we view our rugs with the light of a better wisdom
and happier experience, we will see the richest and softest of colours,
the most harmonious shadings and blendings, medallions brilliant as
jewels, or geometrical designs beautiful as the rose windows of a
cathedral; or, again, graceful combinations of charmingly conventionalized
flowers and delicate traceries and arabesques,--all these displaying new
glories of ever changing and never tiring beauty. Each woven picture, too,
is as soft to tread upon as a closely mown lawn, and caresses the feet
that sink into its pile. These are Oriental rugs as their admirers know
and love them.

Perhaps the chief charm of all such beautiful rugs is in their mystery.
Their designs are odd and strange and full of hidden meanings, and their
effects are often evolved from the crudest and clumsiest figures, hooks
and squares and angles; they owe their wealth of colour to simple
vegetable dyes from the woods and fields and gardens, and yet the secret
of many of these dyes is still a secret, or has long ago been lost. The
places whence the rugs come, the people who make them and those who sell
them, all are mysterious and hard to know and understand.

Moreover, broadly speaking, there are no experts on the subject, no
authorities, no literature. He who would know them must learn them by
experience. The rug dealers, for the most part, seem to treat their wares
merely as so much merchandise, and what knowledge concerning them they are
willing to impart is so contradictory as to be almost valueless. Few of
them would agree upon the name of an example which might be out of the
ordinary, or be able to tell where it was made. Ask of them what a "Mecca"
is, and they will stammer in their varying answers. And yet the Armenians
who handle most of the rugs in this country are often highly educated, and
fully appreciate the beauty of their wares. Their taste, however, is not
always our taste, and all the Orientalists seem to retain their barbaric
fondness for crude and startling colours. When we would turn to books for
information in the matter we find that the authorities are not many. They
might be numbered on your fingers and thumbs. These few books, moreover,
have been published only in limited editions at high prices, and are not
easily obtainable. One of the most important of such works is the
sumptuously illustrated