The method of weaving in the Orient to-day is practically the same as it was one thousand years ago with the exception, perhaps, that there are now fewer crooked fabrics woven than in the days gone by. Next to the quality of the material from which it is made, and the dye with which it is colored, the splendid durability of the Oriental rug is due to the manner in which the pile is tied to the warp thread. It is so secure that it is impossible to remove it by pulling either end of the knot. This differs from the domestic method in which the pile is merely drawn between the warp threads without tying or fastening. In the finer fabrics of the East the knots are so close that it requires careful examination to discover them except in very old rugs where the pile is worn down, then the knot is distinctly seen.
In some parts of Persia the best artisans are men but in most other sections the weavers are mostly women and children. The latter begin working at the loom as early as four or five years of age and serve an apprenticeship of two years, after which they receive a few pennies a day. A skilful woman weaver will earn from three to six shillings a week and they usually work from sunrise to sunset, week after week, month after month, year after year. As a rule they have no education, can neither read nor write, and have absolutely nothing else to do but weave and gossip. Rug weaving proves a sort of an amusement and a source of income; besides they take a great interest in the work and the height of their ambition is to realize hope of royal recognition for their superior workmanship.
Each rug is given in charge of a master weaver who usually gets one anna (two cents) for every eleven hundred knots tied. He it is who hires and pays the weavers and makes himself responsible for the quality of the work done.
The girls, especially those of Asia Minor, frequently buy with their earnings perforated gold coins with which to decorate themselves by making them into necklaces or bracelets or by arranging them on their headgear. These coins not only serve to make known their skill as weavers, but also answer as dowries for their future husbands. A skilful weaver can tie from twelve to fourteen knots a minute or from seven to eight thousand knots a day. This would be equal to from fourteen square inches to three square feet, according to the fineness of the rug. For this she receives, on the average, nine cents a day. For a rug 10 × 6 with 182 knots to the square inch, she would receive, in rough figures, from $18.00 to $20.00, and the rug would sell in Constantinople for no less than $75.00. If the women of the Orient are ever emancipated we will have to pay much higher prices for Eastern carpets than we do now.
A TURKISH LOOM
The Eastern loom, which is the same to-day as it was a thousand years ago, consists merely of four poles joined together by ropes according to the size of the rug to be woven. On these the warp threads are strung and kept at the proper tension by weights, which are attached to one of the cross poles.
From one to six, or even more, weavers work on a rug at the same time, according to its size. They sit cross-legged either on the floor or on a raised frame, so that their work will be on a level with their knees. Before them, as seen in the accompanying illustration, is fastened the model which they are to follow or what is known as the "talim," a chart which indicates the colors to be used and the number of knots to be tied in each color. Like expert pianists their fingers seem to know the pattern and much of the time their eyes are not even upon the work.