Persian carpet

“ Persian Carpets.—According to a report by Consul-General Benjamin, of Teheran, the Persian carpets, the manufacture of which constitutes one of the most important features of the industries and commerce of the country, are woven chiefly by the women and children of the peasantry in the villages. A countryman will have a rug made in his own house, and will then take it to the nearest town and sell it for what it will bring. The rooms of the peasantry are small, and hence the rugs are commonly small. Of late years, a larger carpet has been manufactured for the foreign market. ”

“ But even with all these faults, Persian carpets, if not to the eye of an expert, for all general purposes are on the whole better than those of any other manufacture. They have still the great advantage of being made entirely by hand instead of by machinery. It is not unwise, before buying a Persian carpet, to rub it well with a white cloth. If it is aniline-dyed, some of the colour will come off, but if the old Persian dyes have been used no mark should remain on the cloth. ”

“ To manufacture "ancient carpets" is one of the most lucrative branches of modern Persian carpet-making. The new carpets are spread in the bazaar, in the middle of the street where it is most crowded, and trampled upon for days or weeks, according to the age required, foot-passengers and their donkeys, mules and camels making a point of treading on it in order to "add age" to the manufacturer's goods. ”

“ In Persian carpets the tuft is knotted in such a way that one end of the tuft obtrudes between each warp thread. This method of weaving renders possible a closer texture than the Turkish knot; while carpets of suitable design and finer pitch are often woven with a running thread looped round the finger of the weaver, and then cut, instead of by individual tufts. This latter system gives more waste but quicker weaving. With both Turkish and Persian knots the tuft ends do not stand up at right angles to the plane of the fabric, but lie over obliquely towards the starting end of the carpet. ”

“ Carpets with much white are prized, as the white becomes primrose, a colour which wears well. Our host has given me a rug of the oldest Persian pattern, on a white ground, very thin and fine. Large patterns and thick wool are comparatively cheap. It is nearly impossible to say what carpets sell at, for if one has been made by a family and poverty presses, it may be sold much under value, or if it is a good one and they can hold on they may force a carpet fancier to give a very high price. From what Abdul Rahim says, the price varies from 13s. ”

“ The Pile carpets of Persia, especially those of Kurdistan, Khorassan, Kirman, and Ferahan, are the finest in the world, being magnificent in colour and having bold conventional patterns of their beautiful flora, with birds and animals interspersed with the ornament, giving a largeness of mass and interest and vitality of detail. The illustration on the opposite page is from a fine 16th century Persian carpet, and is a good example of their methods and traditions. The hyacinth, tulip, iris and the pink, are frequently introduced, together with the hom or tree of life. ”

“ The patterns of the fabrics made by country weavers are usually taken by them from old rugs. But in towns where weaving is conducted under more organized conditions new patterns are often devised, and are traced sometimes upon great cardboards, on which the stitches, or knots, are indicated by squares each painted in its proper colour. In some of the Persian carpets and rugs made at Sehna, Kirman and Tabriz, the warp is of silk, a material that contributes to fine compact pile textures. ”

“ He fumbled in the pocket of his tattered coat and presently brought to light a scrap of paper on which was scrawled some Persian characters.
"It is such a carpet as I have never seen," he said; "there is nothing in our history or our traditions to teach us the meaning of this carpet—nothing save that it is an Eighur rug inscribed in Persian and in an unknown script. I have traced the characters in a single cartouche. Read, my son."
And I read, translating freely:
"Ten thousand thousand stars shine down on Babylon. The desert well reflects but one." ”

“ A Persian carpet, or a piece of oil cloth, covers the part on which the foot steps in entering, and here the slippers are left or retained, as the owner pleases. Those who ride in them do not sit on benches, but in the bottom of the caique, on a Persian carpet. The interior is white as snow, and there is an ornamented back board which runs across, and separates the stepping place from that appropriated to the purpose of a seat. ”

“ Types of the more austere design occur in carpets from Afghanistan, Turkestan, Bokhara and Asia Minor, N.W. India and even Morocco, the other types of freer design being almost special to Persian rugs and carpets.
Next in historic importance to Persia, Turkestan and Asia Minor is India, where the making of cut pile carpets—known as Kalin and Kalicha—was presumably introduced by the Mahommedans during the latter part of the Indian Carpets. 14th century. But the industry did not apparently attain importance until after the founding of the Mogul dynasty by Baber early in the 16th century. ”

“ Carpets are of oriental origin, and are made of different sorts of stuffs; they are woven in a variety of ways. Persian and Turkey carpets are most esteemed; they are woven in a piece, in looms of a very simple construction. Formerly the manufacture of these carpets was confined to Persia and Turkey; but they are now successfully made, both in Europe and the United States, &c. Great Britain is the principal seat of the carpet manufacture of the world. ”

“ Their beauty is exquisite and chaste. To the threads of silver and gold is tied silken nap that often displays a striking brilliancy. Unlike the earlier Persian carpets which had more subdued hues, these pieces have light tones such as salmon, rose, and green, which are arranged with perfect harmony. Moreover, there is an elegance of design representing the highest types of Iranian, Saracenic, and Mongolian influences combined. Here in perfection are dainty floral forms, the rhythmic tracery of arabesques, and delicate cloud-bands. ”

“ Painting was too slow a process for such an emergency, and accordingly the walls were hung with rich silks and stuffs from the looms of Lyons, draped in a hundred graceful fashions, while the floors, laid down in the rough, were concealed by the massive texture of Persian carpets, the most costly ever brought to this country. The air of comfort and “livableness”—if we may coin a word—depicted on every side, took away the reproach of ostentatious splendor, which perhaps might have been applied to rich decorations and gorgeous details in a mere country house. ”

“ Four kinds of carpets are made, large ones and small ones or rugs, the ghileems, and the umad, or felt carpets. Most of the carpets intended for the covering of floors, of whatever size, are produced in the central province of Irak and in the districts of Sarravend, Garrouste, and Malahir, and are known by the generic name of pharaghan. They are more solid and massive than other Persian carpets, and arc adapted for rooms of large size. Large Persian carpets, which deviate from the usual shape, are made to order, and for an increased price. There are numerous varieties of Persian rugs. ”

“ Where divans are adopted, on the Eastern model, the benches must be framed of wood, permanently fixed, and covered with mattresses kept in their places by a wooden fillet, as Fig. 20. Above the couch thus formed it is well to stretch a dado of Indian matting, affixed above to a moulded rail.
The carpets employed in the cooling room should be soft to the tread. Nothing, of course, equals a Persian or Turkey carpet, and one or the other should be provided when their cost can be afforded. A rich carpet adds greatly to the effect of the room. ”

“ Themistocles replied, that a man's discourse was like to a rich Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can only be shown by spreading and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are obscured and lost; ”

“ A Turkish carpet is of course inadmissible in a bedroom, and the modern Persian rugs are too gaudy to harmonise well with the sober tone of a wainscotted bedroom, but it is quite possible to find delicious rugs and strips of carpeting in greenish blue copied from Eastern designs. ”

“ Large wild-floral patterns are frequently to be seen on carpets, but they are rarely, if ever, satisfactory. Persian, Indian, and other geometric or conventional forms that lend themselves readily to a harmonious admixture of colours so that the carpet will, when on the floor, present a rich glow of colour instead of obtrusive masses of floral misrepresentations, are much to be preferred. Dull colouring is not essential to good taste—rather the reverse ”

“ In the United States good, durable Eastern rugs may be bought for from sixty cents to ten dollars per square foot, and in England for much less. Extremely choice pieces may run up to the thousands. At the Marquand sale in New York City in 1902, a fifteenth century Persian rug (10-10 x 6-1) was sold for $36,000, nearly $550 a square foot. The holy carpet of the Mosque at Ardebil, woven at Kashan in 1536 and now owned by the South Kensington Museum, of London, is valued at $30,000. ”

“ Every one is familiar with the intricate and gorgeous designs of Persian carpets, and one imagines that only veteran skilful artisans can tackle such artistic work. One cannot, therefore, help almost collapsing with surprise on seeing mere children from the age of six to ten working away at the looms with a quickness and ease that makes one feel very small. ”

“ Boys have their heads shaved, though sometimes [29] a handful of hair is left over each ear, or a lock in the middle of the scalp. This shaving is probably the reason why Persian boys always keep on their caps or hats indoors and only take them off to sleep. Instead of taking off their caps, Persian boys, and girls too, take off their shoes when they come into a room, and this, together with the absence of chairs and tables explains how Persian carpets last a hundred years. They are actually more valuable after several years wear than when they were new. ”

“ At the time of which I am speaking, carpets had very [150] seldom been exported from Persia, and consequently there was no rubbish manufactured; now (1883) it is quite different; if a very good carpet is wanted, an old one must be bought.
The carpets made for the European market are coarse, and the weaving loose. Many, indeed, are made of fast colours, but gaudy patterns only are used, and the fine and original patterns formerly in vogue are disappearing. ”

“ In making a carpet, the women who weave it will often run out of the exact shade of wool used in some part of the pattern or even ground-work; they will continue with another shade of the same colour. This has a curious effect to the European eye, but the native does not look on it as a defect.
The value in Persia of a carpet in the present day may, if perfect (either new or old) , be reckoned at from fifteen shillings to two pounds a square yard. In the larger carpets nothing can be obtained under a pound a square yard. ”

“ Diarbekir hangings of a commoner type, rough to the touch, like shepherds' cloaks; and carpets which could also be used as door-curtains—long Ispahan, Teheran, and Kermancha rugs, broader ones from Schoumaka and Madras, a strange florescence of peonies and palms, fantastic blooms in a garden of dreamland. On the floor too were more carpets, a heap of greasy fleeces: in the centre was an Agra carpet, an extraordinary article with a white ground and a broad, delicate blue border, through which ran a violet-coloured pattern of exquisite design. ”

“ Although made in a primitive method, the carpet weaving of Persia is about the only manufacture that deserves a first-class place in the industries of Iran. The carpets still have a certain artistic merit, although already contaminated to no mean extent by European commerciality. Instead of the beautiful and everlasting vegetable dyes which were formerly used for the worsted and silks, and the magnificent blue, reds, greens, greys and browns, ghastly aniline dyed threads—raw and hurtful to the eye—are very commonly used now. ”

“ It should be remembered that that district is more justly famous for its carpets than for its silks. The best carpets in the world are made by the Tekintsi. Armenians, Turkomans and Persians work in whole villages and settlements in Transcaspia making carpets with needle and loom. They have the original tradition of carpet-making, a sense for the particular art of weaving those wonderful patterns of Persia, and for them a carpet is not a covering on which it could be possible to imagine a man walking with muddy boots ”

“ I was shown several hundred carpets, some four by seven yards, down to little rugs a yard square. Some of the finer carpets, astonished me by their beauty, and also their price—forty pounds was a usual figure for a large and handsome carpet.
The finer and more valuable carpets were not new—in fact, few really good carpets are made nowadays. At the time I am speaking of (sixteen years ago) the magenta aniline dyes were unknown to the carpet-makers of Persia, and all the colours except the greens were fast. Nowadays the exact reverse is the case. ”

“ The carpet never lies flat, and wears in a patch over the “shatūr.”
If all is yet satisfactory the carpet must be turned bottom upwards, and the edges carefully examined; if any darns are seen in the edges of the carpet it must be rejected, for the Persians have a plan of taking out any creases by either stretching the edges, which often break under the process, or, if there is a redundancy, cutting it out and fine drawing it so skilfully that it is only detected on carefully examining the back. Such carpets are worthless. ”