How To Identify Persian Rugs and Other Oriental Rugs

Written by C. J. Delabere May

Instruction, rather than discussion, is the keynote of the author's treatment of his subject in this manual, and he makes no apologies, therefore, for confining himself closely to facts, at the expense of theories and the interesting, though more irre­ levant, details of history, of geography, and of travel.
He aims at both simply and speedily placing within the grasp of his readers a· thorough know­ ledge of such facts as are necessary to enable them to identify any typical specimens of the better­ known classes of Oriental rugs, and to classify them, with regard to their type, their age, and their value.

Introduction

A simple and comprehensive system, devised for the identification of specimens submitted to our judgment, might conveniently be arranged to pro­ ceed upon two main lines of investigation, the first being based upon a study of the more general de­ tails of colour and design, and the second, upon an examination of the more particular and technical details of weave and of finish.
Each investigation is in its own way of equal importance, and either may lead us at a glance to the solution of our problem, at times how easily, may be judged, from the following illustrations:
A friend has bought two Persian rugs, and wishes for our opinion regarding them. Rug No.1 is small, the Field is covered with the well­ known 'Herati' pattern, the Border shows a simple floral design, the colours are rich and sub­ dued; we see at once that it is Persian, it could be nothing else, but its local district of origin remains still to be settled. We turn it over face down­ wards (noting, as we do so, the extreme thinness and flexibility of our specimen), so that we may examine the back, which, upon inspection, reveals a close and fine-grained weave, with the weft crossing but once between each row of knots; it is enough, this is one of the famous 'Sehna' rugs from the Sehna district of Persia, there could be no possible mistake about it now.
Rug No.2 displays a central field of faded peach colour, upon which are scattered various small designs worked in yellow, brown, and white, and surrounding a central medallion of rounded form; the colouring is Chinese, the de­ sign a mixture of Chinese and Persian; it is unneces­sary to examine further, at our first glance we knew it; not Persia was its home, but ancient Samarkand in Chinese Turkestan.
Without a knowledge of its technical peculiari­ties of weave we should less surely and less easily have recognised our Sehna, without a study of colour and design we should have been at a loss to identify our Samarkand, and to distinguish it from ilie rugs of China proper.
The story of colours and patterns is fully told, and the variations of weave and of finish discussed in detail, in subsequent chapters devoted to these subjects, and for the moment, satisfied with this mere indication of the lines upon which our learning will progress, we shall pass direct to our first real lesson, which is designed to teach us how best to learn to recognise the rug woven in Persia from every other rug of the East, and will lead, incident­ally, to a short discussion of the principal character­ istics of the remaining five well-defined groups of Oriental rugs, to-day known and recognised.

Persian Rugs Compared with Those of Other Groups

The Eastern rug world of to-day is conveniently regarded as consisting of six main groups or divisions, as follows:

1. China
2. Central Asia
3. Caucasia
4. Persia
5. Turkey
6. India

and it will be both helpful and interesting to the student to have some general knowledge of all these groups, particularly in regard to those characteristics which differentiate them from each other, and especially from the rugs of Persia. The above system of grouping is in the main geographically correct, but we must notice that there are certain exceptions to this (about six in number), instances in which the claims of history and the source of inspiration of the weaver, have been regarded as the factors of paramount importance. Such instances occur when, as here, we include under the heading of China the rugs of Samarkand, and regard as Persian the weavings of Bijars, of Herat, and of Mosul.
1. Chinese Rugs These can be dismissed in a few words, and will give but little trouble, since their colours, colour-schemes, and designs resemble those ofno other group, and are so characteristic as to be recognised instantly. Yellows predominate, whilst their reds, peach, plum, and pomegranate, are shades found in no other rugs, and their designs, the Swastika, the Key, the Fret, Emblems, Dragons, Bats, and Butterflies, are here seen, but nowhere else. Medallions when present are rounded, in place pf the usual diamond shape.
2. Central Asian These rugs are very distinctive on account of their characteristic patterns and their peculiar colour scheme, which produces its beautiful effect, not by the usual contrasting of colours, but by the domination of a single one. Their colours, which are rich and subdued, consist principally of varying shades of red, terracottas, maroons, and browns, whilst their patterns (never floral) are formed by some geometrical design, such as a diamond, hexagon, or octagon, repeated in rows throughout the Field.
The central medallion, so commonly encountered in the rugs of other groups, is not met with here.
The weavers employ the 'Sehna' knot, and commonly finish their sides with an 'Overcasting' or 'Double-Overcasting', of two or more cords; whilst of all the rags with long end-webs and fantastic fringes, none are found outside this group.
3. Caucasian Rugs The colours ofthese rugs are lighter, brighter, and not always harmonious, whilst their patterns are invariably geometrical, but differ from those of the above group, in that they consist of the massing of various designs, and not the repetition of a single one.
Caucasian weavers exhibit a marked fondness for the use of the 'Latch-Hook' design, and it is seldom that this device is found to be absent from both Field and Border of their rugs.
They are finished with short, uncoloured endwebs, and tied invariably with the 'Ghiordes' knot, additional points which will serve to distinguish them from the rugs of Persia and Central Asia, with which they might possibly otherwise at times be confused.
4. Persian Rugs These differ from the preceding groups, in that their designs are not geometrical, but essentially floral. Flowering shrubs, flowers in rows, flowers on stalks, with foliage, flower forms enclosed in some variety of trellis work, or diaper pattern, such are the motives of the weavers of Iran.
On those occasions when such designs are absent from the Field, their place is taken by one of the recognised repetitive patterns of Persia, such as the 'Pear' or 'Herati', but it is a notable and distinctive feature of Persian rugs, that floral forms are only on the very rarest occasions entirely missing from the borders, or the Swaying Vine from all the border stripes. Their colours are rich and subdued, and their colour-schemes owe their effect, largely, to skilful colour contrasting. Cotton will be found to be employed as the material for the 'Warp' threads, in roughly one-half of the districts of Persia, and the presence of a cotton 'Warp' is strongly suggestive evidence of a Persian origin, and particularly so, since in Caucasia, Turkey, and Central Asia wool is the material of choice.
5. Turkish Rugs