Khorassan RugPlate 1. Khorassan Rug
Plate 1. Khorassan Rug
In the rich valleys near the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates dwelt in the remote past a race of unknown origin called Sumerians, and to the north of them lived another people known as the Accadians. These races built canals, cultivated the soil, established towns, and invented the cuneiform writing. They lived in harmonywith one another, and continued to prosper until about 3000b.c., when the Semitic race of the Chaldees, appearing from an unknown land, subdued them. The Chaldees, however, allowed the conquered races to retain part of their lands, adopted their civilisation, and about the year 2500b.c.built the city of Babylon, the foundation of which biblical students claim was laid by the mighty hunter Nimrod. By cultivating the surrounding country, by developing its trade and commerce, the Babylonians became a wealthy and powerful nation; and by encouraging manufactures, art, and science, they became noted for their delicate fabrics, magnificent temples, and knowledge of mathematics and astronomy.
About the year 2000b.c.a number of tribesmen, among whom was Abraham, migrated with their flocks to the upper valleys of the Tigris and founded Nineveh. A century later the land occupied by colonists who settled about Nineveh was known as Assyria. It increased in numbers and in power until, in 1300b.c., it gained its first victory over Babylon; and during the next four hundred years, though meeting with occasional reverses, it extended its rule over Babylonia, Asia Minor, and Assyria, and received tribute even from Egypt. It thus became the first great conquering power in Southwestern Asia. In their magnificent palaces of Nineveh, surrounded by luxury, the rulers of Assyria were resting in supposed security when a powerful and unexpected enemy appeared from the land now known as Persia.
When the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates were inhabited by Sumerians and Accadians, Iran, which included modern Persia, was similarly inhabited by races of unknown origin. Subsequently, but at an exceedingly remote period, from the region about the Oxus river in Western Asia two branches of the great Aryan family migrated to Iran. One of these, which settled in the northern part, was known as the Medes; the other, which settled in the southern part, was known as the Persians. Both Medes and Persians subdued the native races and in the course of centuries constructed powerful empires. The former were the first to extend their conquests, and forming an alliance with the viceroy of Babylon they attacked Nineveh in the year 606b.c.and destroyed it. Babylon now became the mistress of all Mesopotamia, and under Nebuchadnezzar it was enlarged to cover an area of one hundred square miles, and surrounded by walls three hundred feet high. These walls enclosed parks, orchards, gardens, and a city that soon became famous for its palaces, its temple of Bel, and its Hanging Gardens.
While Babylon was rising in power changes were occurring in Iran. Cyrus, leader of the Persians, instigated a revolt against the Medes and conquered them. But not satisfied with making the Persians rulers of Iran he extended his conquests westward, and in the year 538b.c., by diverting the waters of the Euphrates, surprised Belshazzar in his banquet hall and became master of Babylonia. The complete subjection of all Asia Minor followed, and for the next two centuries the warlike Persians were the dominant power in Western Asia. But in the year 331b.c., when Alexander the Great defeated their armies under Darius, the Persian Empire melted away.
Whether in Egypt or China or by the Tigris the art of weaving first took definite form, it was in this land of Babylon and Nineveh, of the Medes and the Persians, of Abraham, Belshazzar, and Cyrus, where a few remaining monuments attest the delicate textiles of those early days, that in more recent ages have been woven the most perfect carpets of which there is any knowledge.
During the succeeding five hundred years Persia, Asia Minor, Caucasia, and Syria became the prey of the Parthians, Greeks, and Romans, to whom petty tribes, recognising no sovereign power and secure in their mountain fastnesses, bade occasional defiance. About the year 226a. d.an able leader of one of the Persian tribes founded the dynasty of the Sassanides, which during the reign of Chosroes (531-579a. d.) and his grandson Chosroes II (590-628a. d.) ruled over the country from the Oxus on the north to Arabia and Egypt on the south, and from India on the east to Assyria on the west. This was a period of prosperity and luxury, the glory of which continued until the middle of the VII Century, when it was overthrown by a new power rising from a most unexpected quarter.
In the inhospitable land of Arabia, noted for its coffee, dates, and myrrh, for its dreary, sandy, waterless wastes, a land hitherto almost unknown in history, Mohammed promulgated the religion which, suited to the temperament and desires of the Bedouins, united them into a fanatic, militant body of conquerors. After his death his successors, known as the Caliphs, extended his conquests. Their successful armies quickly overran Persia and overthrew the Sassanian rule; then marching northward into Turkestan and as far east as the Indus they overcame all resistance.From the Greeks, by whom they were known as the Saracens, they snatched Palestine and Syria, and invading Egypt, conquered it after the long stubborn siege of Alexandria. A little later the Arabs became masters of Northern Africa, and settling there intermarried with the native races. Near the Straits of Gibraltar their African descendants, known as the Moors, crossed to Spain, where in the year 711 they vanquished a powerful army that opposed them. During the following year they subdued all of that country and began an invasion of Northern Europe. But on the rich pasture lands near Tours, where the infantry of Charles Martel met the Mussulman cavalry in one of the most decisive battles of history, they were defeated with terrible slaughter and Christian Europe was saved.
These conquests of the Mohammedans had not only a political and religious significance, but also an important influence on art at a time when Europe was sunk in ignorance and barbarism. Fond of magnificence and luxury, the Caliphs founded great capitals in Assyria, Egypt, and Spain, and built palaces that have histories which sound like fairy tales. Bagdad on the banks of the Tigris, with its sixteen hundred canals, one hundred and five bridges, and nearly a million people, with its countless baths, its many thousand mosques, and its royal palace, where was collected the best of Asiatic taste, elegance, and splendour, possessed more grandeur than any other city in the world. Gibbon states that within the palace, furnished with Oriental luxury, hung thirty-eight thousand pieces of tapestry, one third of which were of silk embroidered with gold, and that on the floors lay twenty-two thousand carpets. In Cairo and in Cordova, likewise, the Caliphs surrounded themselves with similar splendour, of which, unfortunately, but few traces now exist; but the Castle of the Alhambra still remains as a powerful reminder of their taste and artistic genius. It is largely to the influence of this race that were due many of the beautiful Spanish rugs such as Queen Eleanor in the XIII Century took to England from Cordova and Granada, as well as those of other periods. Moreover, in some of the choicest pieces of Asia Minor and Persia, woven during the XVI and XVII Centuries, are traces of this early Saracenic art.
For about five centuries the militant power of these Mohammedans was dominant in Southwestern Asia when another conquering race appeared. The great wall of China, which was built over twohundred years before Christ by the famous Che-Hwang-te, to protect it against the invasions of the Tartars, turned westward many wandering hordes from the more fertile pastures and valleys of Southeastern Asia. One of these hordes was of Turks, who, leaving their homes near the sources of the Irtish and Yenisei rivers in the Altai Mountains, settled in Turkestan. Many centuries afterwards, to escape from other hordes pressing westward and to reach fresh pastures, different branches of them migrated southward and westward. About the year 1000a. d.one of these branches known as the Seljukian Turks gained a foothold in Persia, and under Malek Shah, in 1072, made Ispahan its capital. About the same time it extended its power over Asia Minor and overran Georgia, where it destroyed the capital Tiflis after slaughtering the inhabitants. To this Turkoman race should probably be accredited the earliest Mongolian influence on Persian textile art.
Somewhat later a people numbering forty thousand tents were ranging that part of Mongolia which lies north of the desert of Gobi in search of pasture and water. One of their number gathered about him a few followers, and by his own genius gained the ascendency over his tribes. He then allied himself with another powerful tribe, and reducing to obedience all the Mongolians who dwelt north of the desert of Gobi, in 1206, in the presence of his chiefs, he assumed the title of Genghis Khan. After becoming the ruler of millions of nomads of the great central plateau of Asia and conquering part of China, which was then enjoying a period of great wealth and prosperity, he invaded Western Asia. Bokhara offered no resistance and might have been spared, but learning that some of the Sultan’s garrison were concealed he ordered the city to be burned. Samarkand, which surrendered after three days’ siege, was pillaged and the inhabitants were slaughtered. Herat appeased his anger by opening its gates. Even his death did not stop the ravages of the Mongol horde that captured and sacked Bagdad, and, crossing the Tigris and Euphrates, pillaged all Asia Minor. In 1258, Hulaku Khan, grandson of Genghis, conquered Persia and established his capital in the province of Azerbijan, where his descendants ruled for over a century.
Meshed RugPlate 2. Meshed Rug
Plate 2. Meshed Rug
With these invasions another wave of Mongolian influence was felt in Western Asia. Whatever may have been the effect on local art by the settlement of the Seljukian Turks in Persia and Asia Minor during the early part of the XI Century, it wasinappreciable as compared with that of Genghis Khan and his followers. For the influence of Bagdad over Southwestern Asia was like that of Rome over the empire of the Cæsars, and when in the middle of the XIII Century it was plundered for forty days, and other important cities of Asia Minor and Persia similarly treated, there was no longer the same incentive to work, so that art for a time languished. But in some cities the artistic spirit of the people prevailed over the loss of independence, and the more skilled workmen were encouraged by their new masters, who, recognising the beauty of the Persian carpets, sent many Persian artists to China and brought many Chinese artists to Persia, that the different races might derive advantages from the instruction of one another. It is therefore not surprising that from this time the influence of Chinese art has been recognised in the woven fabrics and metal work made in the southwestern part of Asia. In fact, the Chinese motive known as the “key pattern,” as well as other less familiar designs of distinctly Mongolian origin, appeared for the first time in some of the carpets and metal work of this period.
Like Turkestan, Asia Minor has been one of the great battle-grounds of the world. During parts of the XI, XII, and XIII Centuries not only Seljukian Turks, but Mongols and Ottoman Turks under Murad and Bajazet, rose in influence until all Asia Minor, as well as Thrace and Macedonia, was subject to them. But still another power from the far East was to overrun Asia and divert Bajazet from the walls of Constantinople.
Under Tamerlane, the descendant of Genghis Khan, the Mongol hordes were again united and again attempted the conquest of the world. From the walls of China to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the Steppes of Turkestan to the Arabian deserts, his victorious armies overcame all opposition. Never was conqueror more rapacious, more bloodthirsty. At Ispahan, seventy thousand inhabitants were slain. Georgia was laid waste and the people were massacred. In 1401, Bagdad was besieged and, when taken, a pyramid of ninety thousand human victims was raised as a monument to the Tartar conqueror. In the following year, when the armies of Bajazet and Tamerlane met on the plains near Angora, the Turks were defeated and Bajazet was captured. But now the tide of Mongol invasion receded; and laden with spoils Tamerlane returned to his capital at Samarkand, where he enjoyed the remaining years of his life by surrounding himself with a brilliant court andby building palaces and temples, which he adorned with royal splendour. With all his atrocious barbarities he had a higher appreciation of art than his Mongolian predecessors. At his capital were assembled skilled artisans from Eastern and Western Asia; and there at the beginning of the XIV Century European travellers saw innumerable art treasures, including carpets of wonderful workmanship and beauty.
The Mongol power also gained an important foothold in India. This country, like Iran, had been subjugated by a branch of the Aryan race, which conquered the native Dravidians, and remained dominant until the VII and VIII Centuries. Then the Mohammedans invaded it, and were still in ascendency when Tamerlane crossed the mountains and attacked Delhi. After the lapse of more than a hundred years his descendants, Baber, Akbar, and Shah Jahan, rose to power. The magnificence of their courts and the splendour of the temples which they built stimulated Indian art; and under the instruction of Persian artisans, who were induced to settle in that country, the natives attained their highest skill in weaving.
With the death of Tamerlane, in 1405, the Ottoman power in Persia and Asia Minor rose again, and Turkish victories followed in quick succession until in 1453 Constantinople fell and the church of St. Sophia became a mosque.
After the lapse of half a century Shah Ismael of the family of the Safavids defeated the Turkomans in 1502, and founded a new dynasty in Persia. With his rise began one of the most splendid periods in its history. Within a few years victories extended his empire from the Euphrates river to Afghanistan and from the Oxus to the Persian gulf. This was the land of ancient Iran, over which from his court at Ardebil he ruled until his death. In the early part of the reign of Shah Tamasp, which lasted from 1524 to 1576, the new dynasty was threatened by the Turkish ruler, Soliman the Magnificent, after he had taken Rhodes from the Knights of St. John and invaded Southern Europe. In 1534 he captured Bagdad and Tabriz, as well as conquered Shirvan and Georgia.4But the lost territory was soon regained and the new Persian capital was established at Tabriz where, as will be seen later, were woven many of the greatest masterpieces of Persian textile fabrics. Much as thesemonarchs had accomplished, it was Shah Abbas the Great who, after ten years of internal strife, succeeded by expelling the Turks from Persia, restoring tranquillity, and establishing commerce, in elevating his country from one of devastation and confusion to one of greatness such as it had not known for many ages. He transferred his court to Ispahan, where, while adding to the magnificence of the city, he encouraged art even to the extent of sending to Italy, for study, a number of the most skilled artists of Persia. These in time returned and exerted an influence that appeared in the more elaborate designs of carpets of a subsequent period. It is also probable that he rendered valuable assistance to Akbar of India in founding carpet-weaving in that country. He ruled from 1586 to 1628. This period, during which America was a wilderness and England under Queen Elizabeth was still struggling with the feudal system, was the golden age of Persian history and Persian art; but with his death the Safavid dynasty declined and art decadence began.
In 1722, the Afghans conquered Persia and for a number of years ruled it with horrible cruelty; but they were finally defeated by Nadir Shah, who captured Herat in 1731, extended his dominion into Georgia, and recovered some of the lost territory from the Turkish Empire in the West. After his death the sovereignty of Persia again waned, until in time it was confined to its present limits.
It thus appears that from the earliest times recorded in history the southwestern part of Asia has been subject to invasion, and to constant struggles between the different races of the East for supremacy. Even from the desert of Gobi, the flanks of the Altai Mountains, and the deserts of Arabia have poured forth armies to devastate the land. One victorious power after another has extended its sway from the banks of the Indus to the shores of the Mediterranean. The result is that the present Oriental textile art is of a composite character, which can be understood only by taking into consideration the value of these racial influences that have contributed to it some of its most interesting and subtle charms.
AS was the case with the earliest shepherd weavers, many nomads living in unfrequented parts of Asia spin the wool taken from their own flocks, then colour it with dyes brewed from roots and herbs that they have personally gathered, and finally weave it according to well-known patterns into fabrics. But in large, enlightened communities the manufacture of an Oriental rug involves a division of labour. From the shepherds the professional dyers obtain the wool, which, after colouring, they sell to weavers; and these in turn often receive their patterns from others. A knowledge of these separate steps involving the industries of producing the different materials and the crafts of dyeing, weaving, and designing is essential to a full understanding of any Oriental woven fabric.
The materials that were formerly used in weaving were generally of animal origin, such as the wool of sheep, goats, and camels. To a more limited extent silk and cotton also were used, and occasionally hair of the yak, cow, and even human hair. In later years, when there arose a western demand for eastern fabrics so that the aim of the weaver was to produce an article as cheaply as possible, flax, hemp, jute, and larger quantities of cotton were sometimes substituted. Since all of these materials are indigenous to the country where they are used, and are affected by its climate, altitude, humidity, and fertility, they acquire qualities that frequently give to rugs a distinctly local character.
Plate 3. Kirman RugPlate 3. Kirman Rug
Plate 3. Kirman Rug
The wool of sheep constitutes the warp and weft of at least half the Oriental rugs and the pile of over ninety per cent. To be sure, in Japan the pile is largely jute and cotton; in a few of the districts of Asia Minor and Persia it is mercerised cotton or silk; and in districts where the camel is still a beast of burden its wool and fine hair are often substituted for other kinds; but throughout all the rug-weavingcountries of the East the wool of the sheep has been and still is preferred to all other materials for the pile of rugs. This is due not alone to its warmth, to the facility with which it can be spun and twisted into knots, but also to the fact that from the remotest times the inhabitants of these districts, like Abraham of old, have been shepherds, who followed their calling because over the steppes of Tartary and the great plateaus that extend through Asia Minor, Persia, Afghanistan, and Turkestan spread vast pasture lands that seem better suited than any other parts of the world for the nourishment of sheep with fine fleeces. In fact, a part of these districts seems to be the natural habitat of the sheep; for among the crags of some of the lofty mountain chains of Central Asia, and farther west where Eastern and Western Turkestan meet in the lofty plateau of Pamir, called the “Roof of the World,” still wander great bands of magnificent native sheep with enormous horns and brownish grey wool, from which it is believed sprang the vast flocks that now browse on every hill and mountain slope of Western Asia.
Centuries of care have effected an important evolution in this native stock, for in no other part of the world are there sheep with longer and more silky fleeces. Nevertheless there are different grades, as the quality depends in a measure on the climate and pasturage as well as on the care of the sheep. Thus in the hot, sandy lands the wool shows some deterioration; but in the cold, dry climates of the many high lands of Western Asia and in the pastures of particular localities the wool is long, fine, and lustrous. For instance, in parts of Khorassan, on the flanks of high mountains near Kirman and Shiraz, on the shores of Lake Niris in Farsistan, among the rolling uplands of Asia Minor, are produced uncommonly fine and beautiful fleeces. When, moreover, the sheep of these localities receive the care that is given by some of the nomadic tribes, as the Uzbeck Tartars, who not only shelter them but cover them with blankets, the wool acquires a soft and silky quality that is unsurpassed. The wool produced in many parts of India, on the other hand, is poor; for not only are the serrations, on which largely depends its value for textile purposes, less numerous than in better varieties, but it is harsh and contains many long hairs that do not well unite with it and that take up very little dye.
The wool of the goat is much less extensively used, yet appears in some rugs, not only as warp and weft, but also as pile. Thegoats of Kashmir, which live in the cold climate of a table-land three miles above the ocean level, produce the finest and most beautiful wool; but as it grows near the skin, and beneath wiry hairs from which it can be removed only with tedious care, it is too precious to be used excepting for the most beautiful shawls and choicest carpets. Of next importance and finest texture is the wool of the Angora goat, known to commerce as mohair. Formerly there was not much demand for it, but now, on account of the consideration that it has received in the carpet factories of recent Sultans, it is found in many of the rugs of Asia Minor. As it grows to an average length of five to six inches it is easily spun; and its soft, lustrous sheen gives to the rugs in which it is used a silky and brilliant appearance. Some of the Bokhara goats, also, yield fine wool that is used in rugs. Yet, as a rule, yarn made from the fleece of the goat is not regarded with favour by weavers, since it is apt to be coarse and to pack closely. Nor does the wool of the goat mix well with the wool of the sheep. There is, however, a much finer grade growing next to the skin, which may be removed with a knife when it is exposed by combing the longer fleece in a direction reverse to that in which it lies. The tougher grades are preferred to any other material by weavers of the Afghanistan, Beluchistan, and some Turkoman rugs for selvages at the sides, as they afford excellent protection against hard usage. Goat’s hair is also sometimes used in these rugs for warp. Unless mixed with wool it is very rarely used for weft, as it is not sufficiently pliable.
Of more frequent use than the wool of the goat is the wool of the camel which grows close to the skin beneath the long hair. In the tropical countries, as in Soudan, the camel has no wool, but in more northern latitudes it yields a crop which increases in quantity and improves in quality as the climate grows colder. Thus in Arabia, Asia Minor, and in most of Persia and Turkestan the yield is small, in the table-lands of Eastern Persia and Afghanistan it is much larger, and on the lofty plateaus of Turkestan and Chinese Tartary as much as ten pounds of wool is obtained yearly from each beast. The clip is taken at the usual moulting season during the spring of the year. The wool of the older camels is coarse and dark, what is taken from the young is finer and lighter, and the most silky and valuable of all is what is obtained from the unborn. The best grade has been more highly esteemed than the wool of any other animal, and rugs in which it constitutes thepile are more valuable than those in which the wool of sheep is used. It is seldom woven in modern rugs, but dyed wool or goats’ hair of similar colour is often substituted for it.
The wool or underhair of the yak is used only among the mountain tribes of Tartary, and is never found in any of the choicer grades of rugs. Occasionally the hair of the horse or cow is employed to a limited extent in the pile of nomadic rugs, where it may be distinguished by its coarse and wiry character. In old rugs of which the pile is much worn cows’ hair will now and then protrude like the hairs of small bristle brushes. Only very rarely is human hair seen in a rug.
Natural colours of the several kinds of wool, which have made it possible to dispense with their dyeing, have always been taken advantage of by weavers. The only black yarn on which the wear of time has left no impress is from the fleece of the proverbially despised black sheep. Shades of white, ivory, brown, grey, rufus, and even a plum are obtained from different varieties. Likewise a wide range of rich chestnut colours are furnished by the camel.
It is but natural that the nomad should depend on the wool of his flocks and herds for warp, weft, and pile; but people of fixed habitations have employed other kinds of material also. Where the sensuous luxury of the East called for magnificent carpets, they were often woven almost entirely of silk, which was easily obtained, as silkworms thrive on the mulberry trees that grow wild on the plains of Central and Southwestern Asia. Silk rugs are still woven in a few cities of Asia Minor and Persia. For the cheaper grades of rugs flax, hemp, and jute have been sparingly used; and during recent years cotton has been widely adopted, particularly in Persian, Indian, and Chinese rugs, on account of its cheapness as compared with wool. It is, however, almost entirely as warp and weft and rarely as pile that it is used. Though much less durable than wool, its white colour is far less likely to darken with age; yet there is a poorer variety which, after being thoroughly wet, acquires a dark colour.
In the preparation of these different textile materials wool requires the greatest care. In some parts of the Orient it is not washed, and the lustrous hues of the pile are attributed to the fact that it is dyed in its naturally greasy state; but in other parts the grease and dirt are carefully removed. This cleansing is a craft that has been transmitted from parent to child, and is practisedaccording to different methods in different parts of the country. One of the chief essentials is an abundance of clear running water free from alkali; for when the water is hard, as is often the case in the more arid parts of the country, it loses some of its cleansing properties, and potash or other chemicals are required to counter-act this unfavourable quality. After the wool has been thoroughly washed it is carefully dried in the sun and open air.
The next important step is the proper sorting, picking, and combing. The sorting consists of the separation of black and light wool, or of an inferior from a better grade; and the picking consists of the removal of burrs or foreign particles. The object of combing is to effect an orderly arrangement of the wool so that it is ready for spinning. One method, corresponding to carding, is to draw the wool repeatedly between rows of upright spikes set in a wooden frame until every matted particle has been separated and all the fibres are disentangled. The older method, still employed in nearly every part of the Orient, consists of “teasing” with the cord of a heavy bow, which is suspended or held firmly by the left hand over the wool, while with the right hand the cord is made to vibrate either by striking it with a wooden instrument or plucking it, so that the fibres of wool are separated and assorted by the vibrations.
When the wool has thus been prepared, it is wound about the distaff and then spun into yarn. In many parts of the Orient the common spinning-wheel has been introduced and adopted for both wool and cotton; in other parts are crudely made spinning-wheels of different design and about the height of a man. The natives of districts more remote from civilisation still cling to the primeval spindle, which sometimes consists of no more than a rounded stick half an inch in diameter and a foot in length with a ball of clay at one end. Many of the nomadic tribes of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia use in place of it a small stone of convenient shape, to which is tied a strip of linen a few inches in length. A few fibres of wool are attached to the end of the linen by twisting them about it, and a few more fibres are similarly attached to these when the stone is suspended and twirled. As the fibres become closely twisted together more fibres are added until on account of the length of the thread thus formed the stone reaches the ground. The thread is then wound about the stone and secured by a couple of loops so as to leave a piece only a few inches in length, to which more wool is attached in continuing the spinning. When a large ball of threadhas been spun, it is removed from the stone and the process begun again.
Plate 4. Shiraz RugPlate 4. Shiraz Rug
Plate 4. Shiraz Rug
One advantage of these simple devices is that they can easily be carried anywhere. Even to-day a not unusual sight is a half barbaric shepherd following his flock, while he spins with simple distaff and spindle or stone, as did his ancestors thousands of years ago. On the end of the distaff, that rests beneath his left arm, is the ball of wool from which he selects and twists the fibres, while he deftly turns the short spindle or twirls the stone with thumb and forefinger of the right hand. The threads spun by professional spinners on spinning-wheels are of small diameter and are the most regular in size and texture, those spun with the small spindle are of larger diameter and less regular, and those spun by twirling a stone are made of the coarsest diameter in order to insure sufficient stoutness, since they are the most irregular in size and texture; yet yarn so made is the most highly valued by all weavers.
Only very rarely, indeed, is one of these single threads used for yarn, since it would be apt to part. Two of them, therefore, are twisted together to form a double thread. A simple device used by many nomadic tribes for this purpose consists of two short sticks crossing at right angles, and another piece with end like a crochet needle perpendicular to them. The threads which are attached to this piece pass through a hole at the intersection of the crossed sticks and are twisted by twirling them. It is very seldom that three single threads are twisted to make a triple thread, and when such is the case it is the work of a professional spinner who uses a large spinning-wheel, and never the work of a nomad. For the weft of many rugs, and for the pile of a few rugs such as Sarouks and Kashans, a double thread alone is used; whilst for the pile of most rugs the double thread is again doubled, trebled, or quadrupled, so as to form yarn of two, three, or four ply, and even yarn of six ply is sometimes used. A distinction also exists in the manner of twisting together double threads to make yarn of two or more ply, since according to the custom of different tribes they may be twisted so loosely that in the length of an inch they do not describe more than a single revolution or so tightly as to describe several.
Until the introduction of the modern spinning-wheel wool was spun in the Orient exactly as it was ages ago. It is this almost incredible disposition to adhere as with religious fanaticism to methods transmitted from father to son and to resist as perniciousevery attempt at innovation that makes a precise analysis of rugs possible. Accordingly, the evenness or unevenness of single threads, the looseness or tightness with which double threads are twisted together to form yarn of different ply, as well as the number of the ply used, are a few of the important indices for distinguishing between rugs of different districts.
Even after the yarn is spun it is not always ready for the dyer, and in order that it may properly absorb the dye it is often washed and rewashed. In some parts of the Orient it is first soaked in warm water and carefully rinsed in cold water. It is then placed in a copper pot or vat containing boiling water to which has been added carbonate or sulphate of soda and potash, and stirred for about an hour. After this thorough cleansing it is again washed very carefully in soft water and thoroughly dried in the sun.
The wonderful sheen of many old rugs is due almost entirely to the materials of which they are made. This material, as a rule, is unsurpassed by similar products of any other part of the world, and is prepared by patient races who know little of the value of time. The simple labour required is in itself prosaic enough, yet without a doubt the earlier spinners and weavers, while following their flocks with minds free from all conventions and limitations of art, discerned the elemental forces of nature in all their freshness and power, and from them drew inspiration that bore fruit in the exquisite colouring and delicate tracery of the woven carpets.
Plate 5. Niris RugPlate 5. Niris Rug
Plate 5. Niris Rug
HOWEVER remarkable the achievements of Oriental art in any field, their most pleasing effect has always been associated with colour. Without it the beauty of the lustre tiles of Persia, the marvellous porcelains of China, and the delicate textiles of Western Asia would fade into insignificance. It is indeed the wonderful harmonies of exquisite tints chosen by the touch of genius from a palette of many thousand pigments that awaken the appreciation of the luxurious splendour of the East. This love for colour is inherent in every rug-producing race of Asia and is older than history. It is but natural, then, that the earliest carpets should be radiant with glorious tints, which in a lesser measure are reflected in modern fabrics.
If high praise is due to the artist who, by a skilful association of different colours of co-ordinate tones, creates the picture that delights the sense, a fair measure is also due to the artisan who not only controls the secrets of the dyes, but has mastered the difficult knowledge of their proper application; for the beauty of the finished woven product depends on the judicious dyeing of the yarn more than on anything else. From father to son for many generations has been transmitted a knowledge of those particular vegetable and animal products of root, leaf, fruit, and insect, and the manner of their use, by which the imperishable lustrous sheen and colour of the finest woven fabrics are produced. Indeed, this art requires to-day more technical knowledge than any other branch of rug weaving, since modern designs are no longer more than the imitation of those in older carpets; and so important is it regarded that a successful dyer is a man of distinction in his tribe.
The sources from which are obtained many of the dyes that give the innumerable carpet colours are recorded. A few of them are received from remote countries, but most of the plants from whichthey are extracted grow in marshes and on hills and plains where the nomads wander with their flocks. Many of them are used without blending, but even some of the seven primary colours are derived by proper blending; and from a number of dyes of different strengths and qualities are produced an infinite number of rich and delicate shades.
The principal blues of Oriental rugs are obtained from indigo. This is derived from colouring matter in the leaves of plants of the genusIndigofera, that grow to a height of four to six feet in the East Indies, when they are cut and placed in a vat containing water. In about twelve hours fermentation ensues; and after this subsides the liquid is drawn off into another vat, where after one or two hours of agitation the indigo forms as a precipitate. Many different species of this plant grow wild throughout Asia, and from the earliest times have been used to produce dye-stuff. Indigo is one of the most valuable of all dyes, as by using it in conjunction with others an infinite variety of shades result.
Some reds are obtained from the plant madder (Rubia tinctorum), that grows abundantly in Central and Southwestern Asia, Its colouring properties were known to the ancients; and for a long period it has been cultivated in Asia Minor, where the succulent roots of the second and third years’ growth are regularly dried and prepared for use. Other reds are derived from the insect cochineal (Coccus ilicis) that lives on oaks of the countries bordering the Mediterranean, and was known among the Arabs as “kermes,” signifying Red Dye. After the discovery of America another species (Coccus cacti) was found that was more productive of dyeing qualities. The females, which alone are valuable, are plucked from the trees and killed by exposing them to vapours of acetic acid, or placing them in hot water, or in an oven. From their dried bodies, of which over fifty thousand are necessary to make a pound, the dye is produced. As both these dyes are noted for their fastness, they are constantly used, but when silk or wool is to be dyed cochineal is preferable to madder.
The yellow dyes are obtained from several sources. Some are from the berries of plants of Western Asia. Others are from the leaves of the sumach bushes, that are indigenous to nearly every part of the world. An orange tinge is derived from the turmeric extracted from the short root stocks of a plant of the genusCurcuma. From time immemorial a beautiful yellow has been obtained fromsaffron. It is the product of the stigmas of the fragrant crocus, which are so small that over four thousand are necessary to furnish an ounce of dried saffron; yet the dye is so powerful that it will give a distinct tint to seven hundred thousand times its weight of water. As saffron has something of a stimulating effect on the human system, it has been taken by the Persians when mixed with their rice.
With none of these three basic colours was any national feeling associated, yet the Persians excelled in the use of blues. The Turkomans of Turkestan and Asia Minor produced better reds than any other colour, and the best yellows, even if generally inferior in positiveness to blues and reds, were those of the Chinese.
Though other primary and secondary colours sometimes result from the application of a single dye, the many thousand different tints can only be produced by the blending of two or more. Moreover, the qualities of the same dye vary greatly, as they depend on the soil where the plant grew, the time of year when it was removed, and the weather and other conditions prevailing during the dyeing.
In nature green is one of the most pleasing colours, but in carpets it is most unsatisfactory, as it has generally a faded appearance, due probably to the fact that one of the dyes of which it is formed by blending is less permanent than the other. The Chinese greens obtained from the buckthorns are generally the best.
Greys and browns are sometimes derived from gall nuts, and reddish brown from henna. For very dark browns and black, iron pyrites has been largely used in both old and modern rugs; but unfortunately the dye has a corrosive effect on the wool, so that the black knots of old rugs are often worn to the warp.
In parts of India flowers of the bastard teak (Butea frondosa) make a favourite dye, from which are produced, by blending with other dyes, a large number of shades ranging from deep yellow to brownish copper tones. Another well known dye isButti lac, obtained from an insect,Coccus lacca, that lives on the twigs of trees. It is a substitute for cochineal and produces different shades of red, crimson, terra cotta, and purple, according to the other dyes and the mordants with which it is blended.
Besides these few dyes are innumerable others that are used either singly or in combination. Furthermore, different colour effects are produced by the application of different mordants, which it is necessary to use for the reason that without them manyfibrous materials are unable to absorb a large number of the dyes. The most valuable of all mordants is alum; and the sulphate of iron and tin are largely employed in the case of red colours. Of the vegetable mordants, pomegranate rind, which contains some yellow colouring matter, is the best known. Valonia also is sometimes used, as well as limes, lemons, the fruit of the tamarind, and the mango.
In the monograph of Mr. Harris on the “Carpet Weaving Industry of Southern India” are a number of directions from an old manuscript owned by a dyer who stated that he was the descendant of twenty generations of dyers who originally came from Tabriz, and that he had made his copy from a Persian book of dyes which had belonged to his grandfather. A few of these are given below, because they show not only the dyes and mordants, but also the methods employed.
“Birbuls Blue. Take cinnabar, indigo, and alum, grind and sift lighter than the light dust of the high hills; soak for ten hours; keep stirring it; put in the wool and soak for many hours. Boil for three hours; wash in kurd water, water in which kurds and whey have been well beaten up; leave for three hours, and then wash and beat again in water.
“A Fine Indigo Blue. Take indigo, soak it in water for twelve hours, grind it to a fine paste in a mortar, add someTerminalia citrina, pomegranate peel, and alum; and mix thoroughly. Boil; put the water into the hot bath and keep stirring till cold. Now mix in some iron-filings water, and boil steadily for another two and a half to three hours; wash with a beating and dry.
“Ruddy Brown Grey. Take sulphate of iron,Terminalia citrina, oak galls, and alum; mix well; dry; then steep for twenty-four hours. Put in the wool; soak it for twenty-four hours, then boil for two or three hours. Dip in a soda-bath, wash, and dry.
“Cinnamon. Take oak galls, acacia bark, cinnabar, and alum, and steep for a night. Put in the wool, and soak for twenty or thirty hours; boil the water for two or three hours and give a soda-bath wash; dip in acidulated water; and wash again with beating.
“Crimson. Take lac colour and cochineal. Steep for from four to six days in the sun, in hot weather for the lesser time, stirring constantly till a rich deep colour comes where some has stood for a few minutes in a thin glass bottle and settled. Then strain through two cloths, and put in pomegranate rind and good iron-filings water.Add mineral acid; steep wool for thirty-six hours, then boil for three hours, wash well, and dry.
The colours and pattern of this antique Oushak are similar to those of the best examples that remain of the carpets woven in Asia Minor during the XV and XVI Centuries. The deep blue of the central field, the rich red of the medallions, and the golden yellow of the leaves are entirely unlike the more subdued hues found in Persian rugs. Strongly contrasting with them are the more delicate tones of the tendrils and leaves, which display in their drawing a keen sense of refinement. In the formal pattern of the field are stateliness and elegance; in the narrow borders are simplicity and grace. Such colours and drawing show that the early Asia Minor weavers had an intense appreciation of the ennobling qualities of beauty and harmony.
Loaned by Mr. James F. Ballard