It is easy to go astray in the purchase of silk rugs on account of the numerous mercerized and wool silk imitations, many of them not even being hand-tied but machine made.
FELT RUGS
Felt rugs are made to a certain extent in nearly every part of Persia, but chiefly at Ispahan, Astrabad, and Yezd. They are made of wool, goats' hair or camels' hair or of a combination of two or all of these substances, according to the color desired. As no dyes are employed and the finished product is the same in color as that of the materials used, they are usually gray, white or buff, most frequently the latter. The material is matted together by being pounded, occasionally sprinkled with water in which rapeseed-oil cakes have been soaked for a long time, and then pounded more until it becomes compact and solid. The finished product varies in thickness from three-quarters of an inch to three inches and is as soft and pliable as cloth, but too heavy for exportation, consequently few come to Western markets. In the Orient they are used as floor coverings on top of which ordinary pile carpets are placed. In this country they have been used in bedrooms, also as a covering for dining tables, and as silence cloths, but they will not stand the wear of chairs and are an easy mark for moths. They can be purchased for from $7.00 to $10.00 per yard.
ANTIQUE CHINESE CUSHION RUG
Size 2'2" × 2'2"
FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE AUTHOR
Knot: Senna. Eight to the inch horizontally and six vertically, making only forty-eight to the square inch, but the pile wool is so fluffy that it has the appearance of being quite closely woven.
This piece is undoubtedly a very old one. It has a long silky pile with deep Chinese blue ground, displaying a central medallion of floral forms, frets and swastikas woven in soft red, yellow, drab and white. Also corner motifs in similar colors, all of which is framed by three harmonious borders, an inner band consisting of white dots on a blue background; the main border stripe composed of graceful floral scrolls and blossoms in yellow, light blue, drab, red and white on a blue ground, and the other border of plain blue.
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