Persians, from the Shah to the peasant, sit upon rugs when eating, with cushions placed behind them. It is only the lowest beggar who has no rug. The rugs used by the Persians themselves are rather small, the larger ones being exported to foreign countries. Usually the rooms of Persian homes are small, and narrow in proportion to their length; consequently only small rugs are required. But even when the rooms are large, the Persians prefer several small rugs to one large rug, as a floor covering. They often first cover the hard-beaten ground with a matting of split reeds, and then lay over this so many small rugs that the matting cannot be seen. This custom is becoming more and more common in Persia. With their taste in design and color, they produce beautiful effects.
ANTIQUE PERSIAN RUG
Size, 15.3 × 6.7
The tree design in its best and strongest elements is typified in this wonderful and most interesting Persian fabrication of olden time. The harmony of design and color is most impressive, and the size of the rug enhances this effect. It was evidently woven by one weaver, and years of patient labor and the greatest skill must have been bestowed on it. The richness of coloring, the velvet-like texture, the repose of design, are all unusual. The foundation is of a deep rich blue, and the exquisite rose and sapphire blues and ivory tones are in the softest and richest of permanent dyes. The border is wide, the main stripe of the rose shade, and the coloring all so blended that the continuity of the rug is complete. It is doubtless a product of Kurdistan.
Owned by Mrs. Potter Palmer, Chicago.
The finest rugs are closely woven, with a pile like velvet, and with stitches on the back that resemble needlework. A rug has scarcely reached its prime until it has been down ten years; and it should last for centuries, if carefully used. As a partial explanation of this wonderful durability, it should be remembered that in their own homes the Persians use their finest rugs for hangings, and also that they take off their shoes before entering the house.
In ancient days rug-weaving in Persia was generally restricted to Ispahan, Khorassan, and Shuster, but in modern times the most noted districts are those of Sultanabad, Fars, Hamadan, Feraghan, Bijar, Kurdistan, Khorassan, and Kirman. But the industry is so widely spread over Persia that there is not a class of women who do not live by it, and very often really fine pieces of work are produced in districts where the art receives no encouragement. The districts mentioned above are more noted for the quality of the rugs they produce than for anything else. The rug of each district has a peculiar character of its own, both as to the quality of the wool and the design. The peculiarities characterizing each district are so noticeable that an expert can generally tell at a glance where a rug was made.
It is very difficult, if not impossible, to discover the exact value of the export and import trade of Persia. The source of this information is naturally the Customs Administration, which in Persia exists but in name. The duties of the ports and principal towns are farmed out to various persons, whose interest it is to send the inquirer away as ignorant upon the subject as he was before the interview began. But it is possible, after a great deal of labor in collecting statistics from the dealers of a particular article, to form an estimate probably not very far from the truth. By this method we judge that the average yearly export value of rugs in Aaragh (the Sultanabad district) is three hundred thousand dollars; Hamadan one hundred thousand; Bijar one hundred and ten thousand; Malair one hundred thousand dollars; Kurdistan fifty thousand; Fars seventy-five thousand; Kirman and Khorassan one hundred thousand; and in the less known districts collectively, fifty thousand dollars. The total of these figures classes the rug export in the very first order of exports. It is plain that this amount does not represent the full value of the manufacture, inasmuch as a great quantity of the goods does not leave the country. This quantity is perhaps small in comparison with that exported, but it is large enough to make the value nearly a million dollars.