A TEMPLE FABRIC
When fastened around a pillar the dragon is complete and appears twined spirally
Red appears in Chinese silks in clear tones. In the rugs it almost always has a yellowish cast. There are many shades of salmon pink and red, but very few pieces with pink of a cool character, such as the “shell” shades, rose pink, or the famous Du Barry. All these appear in Persian and Kurdish rugs, and to one knowing how infinitely skilful Chinese dyers have been it is at first hard to understand why the schedules of this common and popular color included chiefly the yellowish tints, from pale apricot to a deep red which nevertheless verged toward orange. The reason for it is still difficult to discern: the method of obtaining these shades, in a softness which increases with age, is now clear.
If a Persian dyer wished to secure any particular shade of color, he would mix his dyes to that end, and the color, when applied, would remain. The oldtime Chinese dyer was more ingenious. He dyed the wool first in a fast yellow. When this was dry and thoroughly set it was dipped into a rather strong red, more or less fugitive. Upon long exposure to the air the red faded and the yellow came through; enough of the red remaining to leave the degree of warmth desired. The delicacy of these colors increases with age. In some old pieces, obviously of the Ming period, the wool which was originally red has come down to pale gold, with only the faintest blush over it, and in the faded color there is a quality which no accurate one-color dying can give. The Chinese dyer evidently counted upon the softening effect of the years, a foresight which could be found nowhere save among a race of collectors.
FEATURES OF CHINESE RUG PATTERNS
The simplicity which distinguishes Chinese coloring may be said equally to distinguish the design. This is more true of the old fabrics than of those of later origin. In fact, one of the distinguishing marks of the old rugs is the use of very simple patterns and usually a narrow border, consisting of some form of the fret or wave pattern which in architecture is known as “Greek,” but which appears with the swastika (卐), of which it is a clear development, in the primitive art of all races, and which in China has been employed most freely from the earliest times.
A RUG CONSISTENT IN ITS STRICTLY FLORAL CHARACTER
Well balanced, and modelled after the Kien Lung designs, but probably made later. The color effect is sprightly
Just when or at what stage of Chinese religious culture the dragon came into Chinese art we probably do not know; but it is found in the earliest rugs we have trace of. In these, however, it shares the prevailing simplicity, is strictly conventional in character, usually laid in blue and worked into the shape of a circular medallion, or sometimes, in conjunction with the fret, into corner devices. These, however, seem to have been appropriated from the Persian along with the central medallion.