A PERSIAN RUG WEAVER AT WORK.[3]
[3] Pictures and descriptions by courtesy of Hartford Carpet Co.
The choicest wool of the world is used in the manufacture of carpet. In order to give satisfactory service carpet must be made of wool that is of a tough quality and has a long fiber. Such wool is not produced in America, and the markets of the distant lands that supply it are practically exhausted to supply the American manufacturers. Most of the wool used comes from Northern Russia, Siberia and China. It is shipped in bales. When it arrives at the mill there is much to be done before the wool is ready for any process of manufacturing.
The art of weaving stands foremost among the ancient industries. It came into being in the sunrise lands of the East where color has endless charm and variety and where figure is made to serve the purpose of fact and fancy. The art of weaving rugs is older than Egyptian civilization. Stone carvings made when Egypt was yet unborn were reproduced in rugs.
At what period the loom was first used is impossible to tell. An ancient Jewish legend claims that Naamah, daughter of Tubal-Cain, was the inventor of the process of weaving threads into cloth. There are other indications that the ancient Hebrews were the first weavers. Mythology also tells of beautiful maidens weaving exquisite patterns for the gods. Most of us are familiar with the story of Jason who set sail on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece, arrived at the kingdom of Aeetes, won the hand of Medea, the daughter of Aeetes, who eloped with him after he had secured the coveted fleece.
The first hands busy at the weaving craft undoubtedly were those of women. Chaldean gossip, repeated in history relates that Sardanphulees, an ancient Greek king, was often seen in woman’s garb carding purple wool from which his wives wrought rugs for floor coverings for the palace. Homer shows Helen of Troy setting the tale of her people’s war in the woof of her web, and also tells with Virgil of rugs that were laid under the thrones of kings or upon chariot horses. Ancient Hindu hymns show that these people made their textile fabrics studies of great beauty. The woman in the Proverbs of Solomon says: “I have woven my bed with cords; I have covered it with painted tapestry from Egypt.” One learns from the writings of Pliny of the large money value of rugs in ancient times. He wrote at length of a vast rug displayed at a banquet of Ptolemy Philadelphius, the value of which was placed at a fabulous sum.
A later writer tells of the love of Cleopatra for rich rugs and tapestries that were woven in her palace or in the countries to the East. On the occasions of her meeting with Cæsar and Antony, the Egyptian queen enveloped herself in a superb rug which she had woven especially for the purpose of showing her renowned beauty to the best advantage. Akhar, emperor of Hindostan, spread a knowledge of the art of weaving throughout India.
The earlier phases of the art of weaving may be traced through the land of the Pharaohs to Northern Africa, Southwestern Asia, and finally into the dawn of the Aryan civilization. The loom has not been materially changed, and it may be seen to-day as it was in the time when the priests of Heliopolis decorated the shrines of their gods with magnificent carpets and when Delilah wove the hair of Samson with her web and fastened it with a wooden pin. The ancient weavers attained high artistic standards in their fabrics. Pliny tells of Babylonian couch covers that had all the beauty of paintings and sold for great fortunes to the ancient Asiatic kings.
In all ages fine rugs have been used for religious purposes. Early writings describe the use of rugs on the holy cars of pilgrimage to Mecca, at the tomb of the prophet at Medinah and throughout the mosques of the Orient. The abbot Egelric gave to the church at Croyland, before the year 892, two large rugs to be laid before the high altar on great festivals. At later periods rugs were used for similar purposes in the cathedrals of Southern Europe.
The Oriental people ever have been devoted to symbols and naturally wove them into their fabrics. Their textiles were made to reproduce mythological stories in which the fauna and flora of a country figured prominently. There was the symbolism of form, color and animal life, of trees and flowers, of faith, and earthly and heavenly existence. The symbols were made to illustrate the conflict between light and darkness, the evolution of life, the decay of death and the immortality that awaits the blessed in paradise.
Since many of the figures of ancient rug-weaving are retained in modern rug designs, the following list of meanings of ancient Oriental symbols used in rug-weaving may be interesting as a key to the stories that are said to appear in many rugs of Oriental design:
Such are the traditions that the makers of modern rugs must live up to. The art of the centuries has been revealed in the rugs of many nations, and the rug-maker of to-day must uphold the standards of an art that undoubtedly takes rank with the great arts. Where a valuable painting goes into the home of one millionaire, thousands of rugs made from an original design of unquestioned art and beauty go into homes the country over to give warmth, comfort and beauty, delighting housewives and imparting a sense of coziness and elegance.
According to students of the art of weaving, the perfection of this art was attained about the sixteenth century, after many centuries of slow growth. Since then weaving as an art has been broadened and given a wider scope by means of processes invented for a cheaper production of rugs in all the beauty of their original designs. But there also has developed a modern school of rug and carpet designing that in itself represents no mean standard of art. Many of the less expensive grades of American rugs and carpets, for example, are of designs created by artists of this modern school of weaving designs whose work is of a high degree of artistic excellence.
HOW OUR GRANDMOTHERS MADE RAG CARPETS
MAKING THE OLD RAG CARPET.
A quarter of a century ago many homes had rugs woven by the housewives with their spinning-wheels, or no floor coverings, except crude cloths made of rags. These homes, of course, were those of families in moderate circumstances, which to-day can have their attractive and comfort-giving rugs of the less expensive grades of tapestry carpet, Axminster or of the various other grades of carpet manufactured at a range of prices within the financial reach of people of modest means.
It is only a step from the ancient weaving of rugs, with all the color, glamor and romance that attached to rug-weaving in the ancient days, to the manufacture of rugs in America to-day. There is no romance attached to the making of rugs and carpets in America, except the romance of industrial achievement; but the American rug-maker is as careful of the quality and beauty of his product as was the ancient weaver, and the best standards of ancient weaving have been realized in the manufacture of rugs and carpets in America to-day.
It is only a rug, several yards of woven threads, a design that few can understand—a simple thing, to be sure; yet what a lot of history and memories and traditions it carries! Merely a strip of carpet, with strange figures, beautiful though meaningless, a product of modern invention like many another, some may think. But the story of a rug may go back through many centuries to ancient times of opulent splendor, when wars were waged and kingdoms created and shattered for the beauty of a woman; when gorgeous palaces were raised and great spectacles of art were shown to inspire the world for thousands of years.
Only a rug, but a relic of a rich and glowing past! For in those distant days of war and pageantry, an era more classic than our own, history and romance were woven into the rug. The patterns and designs told great stories of wars and loves that swept nations away and created great new empires and related vivid accounts of intrigue and tragedy that determined history and inspired the immortal works of poets and dramatists. The rug in the ancient times was also used for religious symbolism, and sacred doctrines were inscribed in the woven figures.
Of all the arts none has been as close to the lives and history of the peoples of the earth as the art of weaving. Songs and stories of these peoples and their national achievements have been immortalized through their woven fabrics. Generations have learned of the great deeds of their forefathers through the historical accounts woven into rugs. And in the days of the early Greeks, Hebrews and Egyptians and on through the succeeding centuries until the middle ages the rug was used as a symbolical part of state, religious and romantic ceremonies.
The reason many rugs are valued at so high a price in money is largely due to the skill of the artist or designer, just as a painting becomes valuable because the artist who painted it has succeeded in producing a remarkable result. The question of rarity also enters largely into the value of rugs. The great artist weavers of the past who worked for love of their art rather than for the money they might secure by disposing of their masterpieces, are dead, and they have had no successors. Then, also, the rug becomes valuable by reason of the amount of time and labor put into it. Many valuable rugs take years to produce, because the artist must do all his work by hand practically and tie his different colored yarns together just so, or the pattern will not come right. These knots may occur every inch or sometimes even less than an inch, and there will be thousands of hand knots in one rug.
MAKING TURKISH RUGS.
THE OLDER THEY ARE THE MORE HIGHLY PRIZED
The above is a typical Chinese rug, containing symbolical emblems.
This is an antique and is of a class that sells sometimes as high as $5,000, its rarity of design, beauty in colors, and scarcity enhances its value.
This is an American machine-made interpretation of a Chinese rug. The ground is a rich gold coloring, the figures being in ecru, dark blue, terra cotta and light blue. It is a beautiful rug, and one of the finest examples of loom-tufted goods ever produced.
WHERE THE BEST PERSIAN RUGS ARE MADE
This antique Persian was made in the district of Kurdistan, in Western Persia. The general effect is handsome, although the design is crude. The ground is of a deep rich red, and top colors of dark blue and ecru.
The most valuable Persian rugs come from Kurdistan, Khurasan, Peraghan and Karman. The most highly prized come from Kurdistan. The pattern does not show a uniform ground of flowers or other objects, but looks more like a field of wild flowers in the spring, which is very appropriate as a design for anything that is to be walked upon. It is astonishing what wonderful artistic ability is displayed by some of the members of these wild nomadic Persian people. The carpets and rugs are woven on a simple frame on which the warp is stretched. The woof, or cross threads, consist of short threads woven into the warp with the fingers and without the use of a shuttle. Then a sort of comb is pressed against the loose row of cross threads to tighten it. The weaver sits with the back of the rug towards him, so that he depends entirely on his memory to produce a perfect pattern.
This rug is an American copy of a typical Kurdistan. It is marvellous how well the effect in colors and design are reproduced in this domestic rug.
HOW WE IMITATE POPULAR DESIGNS BY MACHINERY
This Tabriz reproduction has all the characteristics of the genuine rug in both design and color. The ground is of a soft rose with figures olives, ivory and deep blue.
This is a copy of an old piece of a rug in the Kensington Museum, London, which is 500 to 600 years old. The design is very interesting on account of the symbolical figures which cover the ground.