CHINESE RUGS
CHINESE RUGS
Monograph Number Three in The Mentor Reading Course
Diameter, nine feet nine inches.Eighty hand-tied knots to the square inch.
Diameter, nine feet nine inches.Eighty hand-tied knots to the square inch.
Diameter, nine feet nine inches.
Eighty hand-tied knots to the square inch.
In point of actual age, this very unusual rug is perhaps the youngest of all the six pieces selected for color reproduction with this number of The Mentor. The general observations that have been made regarding the distinguishing characters of the various periods will be forcibly illustrated by comparing this rug withPlate VI, which represents one of the earliest fabrics. The difference between them, from the standpoint of simplicity in design, is decidedly marked, and constitutes an entire lesson on the course of Chinese art. Reserving comment onPlate VIfor its proper place, it is interesting to note some of the features of the round rug. Its elaboration must be emphasized first of all. No effort of which the maker was capable has been spared in the purpose to make this a carpet of note. Its shape alone is sufficient proof of this. The circular rugs, whether Chinese or Persian, are extremely rare. The only other one of great importance is an early Ming piece owned by a gentleman living in New York City.
InPlate III, pursuing the comparison suggested above, there should be noted the great complexity of design. In the attempt to create a masterpiece, the weaver has borrowed from all the Chinese decorative schools and periods. He has multiplied borders and employed a world of material for their ornamentation. Dismissing the outer band of blue, which serves as a sort of protection for the rest, examine the main stripe. The various spaces herein, set off in a sort of cartouches after the fashion of Persian borders but nevertheless with a Chinese drawing, are filled with elements of divers sorts. Twelve of them bear the repeating patterns used as ground covering in much older rugs, including the fret or key pattern and the lozenge-shaped diaper, which is commonly supposed to be Indian in its origin and of a very early day. The alternating sections have cloud bands, flowers, and nature symbols such as were copied into the Persian weavings after the invasion of Hulaku Khan, and appear in many of the high-school carpets of Persia of the 15th and 16th centuries. Two, at least, of these alternating sections bear plants in pots, a later decorative form, and purely Chinese. Inside this there is a wave or “Greek” border stripe; not flat, as in the older rugs, but shaded, or in a sort of perspective. This and the stripe which lies inside, between it and the field, with the white spots, on a ground of blue, are believed generally to be indisputably of late origin.
Passing to the center field, the same ambitious profusion is manifest. The ground design is of most composite character; flower stems, potted growths, suggesting the “Hundred Antiques” pattern, and, by way of good measure, certain of the Buddhistic emblems of Happy Augury, notably the “Entrails” or Endless Knot. All these are laid, in various exquisite colorings, upon a field of the softest gold yellow. Passing to the central medallion, yet a new element confronts us in the Foo dogs, of which several are employed, somewhat crowded, and confused by reason of their coloring, which, nevertheless, is good and, so far as balance is concerned, well distributed. These are inclosed by a broad band or wreath of more or less conventionalized flowers. The solidity of this center is for the purpose of offsetting the rather too heavy border section. In this the true workman appears.
Of the coloring, the wool, and the technical skill displayed, only the highest praise is to be spoken. There are few Chinese rugs that surpass this in textile quality.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATIONILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 2, SERIAL No. 102COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
PLATE IVOLD CHINESE RUG
PLATE IV
OLD CHINESE RUG