Rugs: Oriental and Occidental, Antique & Modern A Handbook for Ready Reference
Part 8
Berea College, Kentucky, is endeavoring to encourage the weaving of rag rugs of a superior order. So far, the industry which was started in 1905, is in a primitive state, the natives preferring to weave cotton and wool coverlets, the designs of which they brought across the mountains with them from Virginia in the early settlement of Kentucky. Floor rugs they consider troublesome. The weaving is carried on in the homes throughout the mountains of that region known as "Appalachian America"; it is really a survival of the old Colonial industry. The rugs are woven of strips of new ticking, and are especially designed for bath-rooms, children's nurseries, and porches. The coloring is done with the vegetable dyes and native barks and roots. The color schemes are the simple ones of a primitive people.
_Navajo Rugs._ The Navajo Indian Reservation covers about eleven thousand square miles, about six hundred and fifty of which are in the northwest corner of New Mexico, and the remainder in the northeast portion of Arizona. The region is well adapted for the raising of sheep, and every family possesses flocks, which are driven from place to place for pasture. The Navajos, however, never go to any great distance for this, but keep generally within a radius of fifty or sixty miles from home. This tribe weaves a rug that is useful, unique, durable, and when at its best, impervious to rain. Among the tribes, and in some Western homes, they are used as blankets, but it has become a fashion in many of the best houses in the Eastern States to use them entirely as rugs, couch coverings, and _portières_.
It is believed that the Spaniards, when they arrived in that section of North America inhabited by the Pueblo tribe of Indians, communicated to them the industry of weaving these rugs, and that the Pueblos taught it to the Navajos. Thus it appears that the weaving of the Navajo rug was a result of the Moors' invasion of Europe. The sheep, which are raised by thousands, were also introduced by the Spaniards. The wool is not washed until after the shearing. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Navajos began to use the shears of the white man; previously they procured the wool by cutting it off the body of the animal with a knife, and pulling it from the legs.
The native dyes are red, yellow, and black, and the natural colors of the wool are black, gray, and white. The dyes of the white man are now much used. Formerly there was a beautiful blue, which has given way to the indigo. A scarlet cloth called Bayeta was once much used in the weaving of these rugs, but Germantown yarn and other inventions of the white man have largely superseded the old-time materials and methods.
The spindle is of the crudest form, and sometimes the wool is simply picked out from the mass, and rolled into the yarn or thread on the hand.
The looms are fashioned after the most primitive ones of the Orient, and the weaver sits on the ground and weaves upward. Women do most of the weaving, but occasionally a dusky-faced man may be seen at the loom. It takes about a month to weave a rug six feet ten inches by five feet seven inches.
The designs in the Navajo rugs are many, and mostly in angles and straight lines, the serrated diamond design being common, as is the swastika or fylfot. The weaver makes up her own designs as she goes along, occasionally only tracing it in the sand.
There is a symbolism attached to many forms in these rugs. The square with four knit corners represents the four quarters of heaven and the four winds. A tau cross is a symbol of protection and safety, and a prayer to the Great Spirit. A spiral form represents the purified soul, and a double spiral is a symbol of the soul's struggle. A wave mark represents the sea, over which the people came from a far country. Black is the symbol of water, regarded as the mother or spirit. Red is the symbol of fire, and is regarded as the father.
The native costume of the women of the Navajo tribe consists of two small rugs in dark blue or black, with a bright stripe at each end. They are of the same size, and sewed together at the sides, except where a place is left open for the arms. Formerly the Indians reserved their hand-made rugs for their own use, but now that there is so great a demand for the work of their hands, they sell those rugs, and content themselves with blankets of factory make.
Old Navajo rugs, like Oriental ones, are growing scarcer every year, and naturally are becoming more valuable and desirable. The fine textures, perfect workmanship, and glowing colors are seen at their best in productions of the past.
VI
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
INSCRIPTIONS ON RUGS
We are occasionally indebted to an Oriental scholar for a translation of an inscription on a rug; often these inscriptions show the religious belief of the maker.
One fine rug in a museum in Austria has the following inscription: "Allah! No God exists besides Him, the Living, the Eternal. Nothing causes Him to slumber or to sleep. To Him belongs everything in heaven and on earth. Who can intercede with Him without His permission? He knows what is before and what is behind, and only so much of His wisdom can be grasped as He permits. His throne fills heaven and earth, and the support of both to Him is easy. He is the High One, the Exalted!"
A rug of Persian weave owned by Baron Nathaniel Rothschild has, worked in the oval cartouches, an inscription translated by Professor F. Bayer as follows:
1. "Honored mayst thou be in the world, Among the clever and wise.
2. May no sorrow be allotted thee by an unfavoring Heaven, And may no care torment thy heart.
3. May earth be all to thee that thou wouldst have it, and destiny prove thy friend. May high Heaven be thy protector.
4. May thy rising star enlighten the world, And the falling stars of thine enemies be extinguished.
5. May every act of thine prosper, And may every year and every day be to thee Spring-time."
In the Industrial Museum at Berlin there is a rug with this inscription: "There is no Deity but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet."
On a Persian silk rug is a line from the Koran: "All perisheth but His face."
Another rug has: "God is greatest! He is great!"
Often a marking in a corner of a rug is simply the name of the maker, and the date.
The Holy Carpet of the Mosque at Ardebil, now in the South Kensington Museum, at London, has the following interesting inscription woven in black characters in the light cream cartouche at the top of the carpet. Translated it reads:
"I have no refuge in the world other than thy threshold. My head has no protection other than this porchway. The work of the slave of this Holy Place, Maksoud of Kashan In the year 946."
(The year 946 of the Hegira corresponds to A. D. 1568.)
ORIENTAL SYMBOLS
All Oriental rugs have designs, and every design is symbolical. To the connoisseur, as well as to the owners of rugs, it is vastly interesting to understand the meaning attached to these symbols by the Orientals. Every one is familiar with the tree design in some of its various forms, and with the stiff little birds and the many odd and strange-looking animals which frequently are seen on an Eastern fabric of the loom. Yet each unique figure has a meaning, and it is a fascinating, as well as an apparently endless task, to find the hidden significance of these symbols. If one goes no further, he should at least become familiar with the designs on his own rugs, and know, if possible, what they typify.
The rug itself symbolizes Eternity and Space, and the filling or plan is the symbol of the world--beautiful, but fleeting and limited.
CHINESE SYMBOLS
BAT _Happiness._
BUDDHIST SCEPTRE _Success in literary labors._
CHI-LIN (a kind of doe) _Nobleness; gentleness._
CLOUD-BAND _The Deity._
COCK AND HEN ON AN ARTIFICIAL ROCK-WORK _Pleasures of country life._
CRANE _Immortality._
CROW _Evil._
DEER _Official emolument._
DRAGON _The imperial emblem, signifying increase and imperial grandeur._
DRAGON WITH FIVE CLAWS ON EACH OF ITS FOUR FEET _Exclusive emblem of the Emperor._
DRAGON AND PHOENIX _Newly wedded pair._
DUCK _Conjugal affection._
GOOSE _Domestic felicity._
GOURD _Happiness._
LION _Victory._
MAGPIE _Good luck._
OLD MAN LEANING ON A STAFF _Long life._
OWL _Dread._
PEACH _Old age._
PHOENIX _The Emblem of the Empress._
STORK _Long life._
TORTOISE _Long life._
TREE OF LIFE WITH SEVEN BRANCHES ON A SHORT STEM_Seven days of Creation._
YOUNG STAGS _Long life._
EGYPTIAN SYMBOLS
ASPS _Intelligence_.
BAT WITH A RING IN ITS CLAWS _Duration_.
BEE _Immortality_.
BEETLE _Earthly life and the development of man in the future state._
BLOSSOM _Life_.
BOAT _Serene spirit gliding upon the waters._
BULL _Source of life._
BUTTERFLY _Soul._
CARTOUCHE _Eternity._
CRESCENT _Celestial virgin._
CROCODILE _Beneficent Deity._
DOVE _Love; mourning of a widow._
EAGLE _Creation; preservation; destruction; power._
EGG _Life._
EYE OF OSIRIS _Eye of the Eternal Judge over all._
FEATHER OF AN OSTRICH _Truth; justice. (The ostrich itself does not appear In Egyptian art.)_
FEATHERS OF RARE BIRDS _Sovereignty._
FROG _Renewed birth._
HAWK _Power._
IBIS _Usefulness; the heart._
LIZARD _Divine wisdom._
LOTUS _The Sun; creation; resurrection._
NILE KEY _Life._
PALM TREE _Immortality; longevity._
PAPYRUS _Food for mind and body._
PINE CONE _Fire._
POMEGRANATE _Life._
ROSETTE _A lotus motive._
SAIL OF A VESSEL _Breath; the belief that the soul is inactive and worthless until revived by the breath of the mind._
SCARABÆUS _Immortality; resurrection; a ruling providence._
SOLAR DISK WITH SERPENTS _Royalty._
SPHINX _Beneficent Being._
STAFF IN THE HANDS OF THE GODS _Purity._
SUN _Deity; life._
VIPER _Power._
WHEEL _Deity._
ZIGZAG _Water._
INDIAN SYMBOLS
ASS _Humility; austerity._
BANIAN OR BURR TREE _Deity (because of its outstretched branches and overshadowing beneficence)._
BUTTERFLY _Beneficence of Summer._
FYLFOT CROSS OF BUDDHISM _Auspiciousness._
KNOT AND FLOWER DESIGN _Divine bounty and power._
SERPENT _Desire._
JAPANESE SYMBOLS
PINE TREES _Long life._
STORKS _Long life._
TORTOISES _Long life._
PERSIAN SYMBOLS
DESCENDING EAGLE _Bad luck._
EAGLE _Light; height._
FLYING EAGLE _Good luck._
HOUNDS _Fame; ever increasing honor._
LEOPARDS _Fame; ever increasing honor._
LION _Power; victory._
PEACOCK _Fire; light._
PHOENIX _Immortality._
STANDING EAGLE _Good luck._
SUN _Light._
SWORD _Force._
TREE OF HEALTH _Immortality._
TREE OF LIFE _Knowledge; truth._
The Coat of Arms of Persia is the Lion holding a sword in his paw, and with the Sun at his back.
TURKISH SYMBOLS
CRESCENT _Increasing power._
The Turkish Coat of Arms is the Crescent and the Star. These heavenly bodies are supposed to signify growth.
MISCELLANEOUS SYMBOLS
ANEMONE _Good fortune._
BAT _Maternity._
BIRD _Spirit._
BOAR _Winter._
BUTTERFLY _Ethereal soul._
CIRCLE _Eternity; perpetual continuity._
CYPRESS TREE _Tree of life; immortality; perfect and renewed life._
DOG _Destruction; vigilance._
ELEPHANT _Patient endurance; self-restraint._
EVERGREENS _Immortality._
FIR CONE _An existence terminated but united--the union of the tribes against the dominion of Rome._
FLY _Destroying attribute._
HARE _Fertility._
HEART _Man morally._
HIPPOPOTAMUS _Destroying power._
HOG _Deep meditation._
JUG _Knowledge._
LILY _Purity._
OLIVE _Consecration to immortality._
OWL _Wisdom._
OX _Patience; gentleness._
PEACOCK _Resurrection (because of the annual renewing of its plumage, and from a belief in the incorruptibility of its flesh)._
PHOENIX _Good luck; herald of prosperity; birth of great men._
PIG _Universal kindness._
RAM _Spiritual leadership._
REED _Royalty._
RHINOCEROS _Religious recluse._
SCORPION _Invincible knowledge._
SERPENT _Life; immortality._
SPEAR _Destructive power._
SPIDER _Slave of passion._
SQUIRREL _Averter of evil._
STARS _Divinity._
SWASTIKA _Good fortune._
TURTLE _Constancy._
WHEEL _Universe._
WINGS _Spontaneous motion._
WOLF _Destroying power._
MEANINGS OF SOME OF THE PLACE-NAMES ASSOCIATED WITH RUGS
AKHISSAR _White Citadel._
BAGDAD _Abode of Peace._
BAKU _Place of Winds._
BELUCHISTAN _Land of the Beluchis._
BHAGULPORE _Tiger City._
BOKHARA _Treasury of Sciences; the Noble._
DECCAN _The South Land._
DERBENT _Fortified Gate._
FARS _Land of the Farsi or Persians._
FU-CHAU _Happy City._
GILAN _The Marshes._
GULISTAN _The Rose Garden._
HAIDERABAD _Gate of Salvation._
HERAT _The Pearl of Khorassan; the Gate of India._
ISLAMABAD _Abode of Islam._
ISPAHAN _Place of Horses._
JERUSALEM _Heir of Peace._
KANDAHAR _Key of India._
KARABAGH _Country of the Sun._
KARA DAGH _Black Mountains._
KELAT _Castle._
KHORASSAN _Land of the Sun._
KWATAH _Citadel._
MECCA _The Heart of Islam; the Holy City._
MESHED _Tomb of a Martyr._
MIRZAPORE _City of the Emir._
NING-PO _Peaceful Wave._
PESHAWAR _Advanced Fortress._
SAMARKAND _The Head of Islam._
SHANG-HAI _Approaching the Sea._
SRINAGAR _City of the Sun._
TABRIZ _Pinnacle of Islam._
TEHERAN _The Pure._
YEZD _City of Light; City of Worship._
GEOGRAPHICAL DATA
Owing to the variety of ways in which the names of Oriental localities are spelled when transliterated, it is extremely difficult to establish a standard of spelling. Many curious examples of this occur both on maps and in dictionaries. It is certainly confusing to open an atlas that is supposed to be an authority, and find that the name one seeks differs in spelling from that used in the atlas first consulted. Then by looking into dictionaries it is found that each of these has a different way of spelling the word sought. Then turning to a guide book of the country there will probably be found not only another combination of the letters, but also a conflict between the descriptive matter in the book and the map accompanying it. When books of travel are consulted, the embarrassment is still further increased.
After having accepted a mode of spelling geographical names for use in this volume, I propose in the pages that follow to assist the reader to locate the places mentioned, by assigning them to their respective countries, so that at a glance he may identify them. This classification will also be a key to the map.
Occasionally the name of a place has been inserted which is not rug-producing, but only a mart for the selling of rugs. This has seemed advisable as the names are intimately associated with the rug industry.
LOCALITIES ARRANGED GEOGRAPHICALLY
Afghanistan
BALKH. CHARIKAR. GHAZNI (GÄZNE). GULISTAN. HERAT. ISTALIF. JELALABAD. KABUL (CABUL, CABOOL). KANDAHAR. ZERNI.
Beluchistan
BAGH (BHAG). BELAR. GUNDAVA. JHALAWAN (DISTRICT). KELAT. KHOZDAR. MASTUNG. ORMARAH. QUETTA (KWATAH). RUSTAM KHAN. SARAWAN (DISTRICT). SONMEANI.
Chinese Empire
CANTON. FU-CHAU. HANG-CHAU. KIANG-SU. NING-PO. SHANG-HAI. SHAN-TUNG. SU-CHAU. TIENT-SING. TSI-NAN. TSING-CHAU. TSING-NING.
Province of East Turkestan
KARASHAR. KASHGAR. KUCHA. YANGI-HISSAR. YARKAND.
India
AGRA. AHMEDABAD. ALLAHABAD. ALLEPPI. AMBALA (UMBALLA). AMRITSAR. BAHADAPUR (DISTRICT). BANGALORE. BARDWAN. BARELI (BAREILLY). BELLARY. BENARES. BEYPUR. BHAGALPUR (BOGLIPOOR). BIJAPUR. BOMBAY. CALCUTTA. CAWNPUR. CHANDA. DECCAN (DEKKAN-PENINSULA). DELHI. ELLORE. GOA. GORAKHPUR (GORUKPORE). HAIDERABAD (HYDERABAD). JABALPUR (JUBBULPORE-JUBBULPUR). JAIPUR (JEYPORE). JALANDHAR (JULLINDER). JAMMU (JAMU). JODHPUR. KASHMIR (STATE, BRITISH INDIA). KHYRPUR. KOHAT. KOTAH. KUSHMORE. LAHORE. LUCKNOW. MADRAS. MALABAR (DISTRICT). MANDALAY. MASULIPATAM. MERUT. MIRZAPUR. MORADABOD. MULTAN. MURSHIDABAD. MYSORE. NAGPUR. NORTH ARCOT (DISTRICT). PATNA. PESHAWAR. POONA (POONEH). RAIPUR. RAMPUR. RANGPUR. SERAMPUR. SHIKARPUR. SRINAGAR (SERINUGGAR). SURAT. TANJORE. WARANGAL.
Japan
AITSI-KEN. KIOTO. SAKAI. TOKIO.
Persia
AARAGH (PROVINCE, WRITTEN IRAK ON MAPS). ARDEBAL (DISTRICT). ARDEBIL. ASTRABAD. AZERBAIJAN (PROVINCE). BIBIKABAD. BIJAR. BIRJAND. BUJNURD. BURUJIRD. BUSHIRE. ENZELI. FARS (PROVINCE FARSISTAN). FERAGHAN. GASK. GHILAN (GILAN). HAMADAN. HEREZ. IRAK-AJEMI (PROVINCE). ISPAHAN (MARKET ONLY). KAIN (GHAIN, GHAYN). KARA DAGH (DISTRICT). KASHAN. KERMANSHAH (KERMANSHAHAN). KHONSAR. KHORA-MABAD. KHORASSAN (KHORASAN, PROVINCE). KHUZISTAN (ANCIENT SUSIANA, PROVINCE). KIRMAN. KUCHAN. KURDISTAN (THE PERSIAN PORTION). LAR. LARISTAN (PROVINCE). LURISTAN (PROVINCE). MAKRAN (MEKRAN, DISTRICT). MAZANDARAN. MEHRAN. MESHHED. NIRIZ. NISHAPUR. OUSTRI-NAN. RAWAR. RESHT. SHIRAZ. SHIRWAN. SHUSTER. SINNA. SIRAB. SULTANABAD. TABRIZ (TABRIEZ). TEHERAN (MARKET ONLY). YEZD. ZARAND.
Russian Empire
ASTRAKHAN. BAKU. BATUM. DAGHESTAN (GOVERNMENT). DERBENT. ERIVAN. KARS. KAZAN. SHUSHU.
{ DAGHESTAN. CAUCASIA { DERBENT. { KUBA.
{ KARABAGH. TRANSCAUCASIA { SHEMAKHA. { SHIRVAN.
Central Asia
BOKHARA. FERGHANA (PROVINCE). HISSAR. KHIVA. KOKAND (KHOKAND). SAMARKAND.
Turkey in Asia
REGIONS
ARABIA. ARMENIA. ASIA MINOR OR ANATOLIA. KURDISTAN. MESOPOTAMIA. SYRIA.
DISTRICTS AND TOWNS
ADANA. ADIAMAN (ADIYEMEN). AFIUM-KARA-HISSAR. AIDIN. AKHISSAR. AKSHEHR. ALEPPO. ALTUN. ANATOLIA (DISTRICT). ASIUM. BAGDAD (BAGHDAD), SHIPPING PORT. BEHESNE. BEIRUT. BERGAMA (BERGAMO, PERGAMO). BRUSA (BROUSSA). CÆSAREA. CHAL. CONSTANTINOPLE. DEMIRDJI. DIARBEKIR. EL-HOSN. ERZERUM. FAKEH. GEMERIK. GHIORDES (GORDIS, QOURDES, GÜRDIZ, ancient Gordus). HAIDAMOOR. HAKKAM. HAYZOOR. HEREKE. HISSAR. HOMS. HOSSU. JERUSALEM. KAISARIEH (CÆSAREA). KARAHISSAR. KARAMAN. KERKUK. KHORSABAD. KIR-SHEHR. KONIEH. KULAH (KOULA, COULA). KUTAHIA (KUTAI, KUTAYAH). LADIK. MARASH (MARESH). MECCA. MEDINA. MILASSA (MELASSO, MYLASSO). MOSUL (MOUSSUL). OUCHAK (USHAK, OUSHAK). SAFIETA. SAVAS. SHARJAH (SHARKAH). SHIRVAN. SMYRNA (MART ONLY). SOHAR. SPARTA. TREBIZOND. URFA (OORFA). ZILEH (ZILLEH, ZELI).
Africa
CAIRO (MART).
KAIROUAN (the only place where the genuine Tunisian rugs are now made).
MISRATAH.
TAJURA.
TRIPOLI.
France
AUBUSSON.
BEAUVAIS.
ROUBAIX.
TOURCOING.
TOURNAY.
Greece
AGRINION. RACHOVA. OWEPHISSA.
LOCALITIES ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY
A
AARAGH, PERSIA. ADANA, TURKEY IN ASIA. ADIAMAN, TURKEY IN ASIA. AFIUM-KARA-HISSAR, TURKEY IN ASIA. AGRA, INDIA. AGRINION, GREECE. AHMEDABAD, INDIA. AIDIN, TURKEY IN ASIA. AITSI-KEN, JAPAN. AKHISSAR, TURKEY IN ASIA. AKSHEHR, TURKEY IN ASIA. ALEPPO, TURKEY IN ASIA. ALLAHABAD, INDIA. ALLEPPI, INDIA. ALTUN, TURKEY IN ASIA. AMABALA, INDIA. AMRITSAR, INDIA. ANATOLIA, TURKEY IN ASIA. ARDEBAL, PERSIA. ARDEBIL, PERSIA. ASIUM, TURKEY IN ASIA. ASTRABAD, PERSIA. ASTRAKAN, RUSSIA IN ASIA. AUBUSSON, FRANCE. AZERBAIJAN, PERSIA.
B
BAGDAD, TURKEY IN ASIA. BAGH, BELUCHISTAN. BAHADAPUR, INDIA. BAKU, RUSSIA IN ASIA. BALKH, AFGHANISTAN. BANGALORE, INDIA. BARDWAN, INDIA. BATUM, RUSSIA IN ASIA. BEAUVAIS, FRANCE. BEHESNE, TURKEY IN ASIA. BEIRUT, TURKEY IN ASIA. BELAR, BELUCHISTAN. BELLARY, INDIA. BENARES, INDIA. BERGAMA, TURKEY IN ASIA. BEYPUR, INDIA. BHAGALPUR, INDIA. BIBIKABAD, PERSIA. BIJAPUR, INDIA. BIJAR, PERSIA. BIRJAND, PERSIA. BOKHARA, CENTRAL ASIA. BOMBAY, INDIA. BRUSA, TURKEY IN ASIA. BUJNURD, PERSIA. BURUJIRD, PERSIA. BUSHIRE, PERSIA.
C
CAIRO, EGYPT. CALCUTTA, INDIA. CANTON, CHINESE EMPIRE. CAWNPUR, INDIA. CHANDA, INDIA. CHARIKAR, AFGHANISTAN.
D