Oriental Rugs, Antique and Modern

by W. A. Hawley

CHINESE RUGS

HE existence of Chinese rugs of age and merit was almost unknown to the Western world until the close of the last century, when a few pieces reached Europe, where they aroused the just admiration of art connoisseurs. About the beginning of this century a larger number, which were obtained during the Boxer revolution by reason of the spoliation of homes, temples, and palaces, that never before had been entered by foreigners, were exported to this country. In New York City, between the years 1908 and 1910, some of them were sold at public auctions for prices that stimulated collectors in China to search for more. But they have proved to be scarce when compared with other Oriental rugs, so that, as yet, the general public are only slightly familiar with them.

Moreover, little is known about their antecedents, for written records are exceedingly meagre. It has been suggested that many were made in Eastern Turkestan along the highways that extend to Persia and India. But it is more probable that they were woven in Eastern China, where other branches of art reached a remarkable development under the patronage of wealthy mandarins and the imperial court. Even if they are not the product of an indigenous growth, the knowledge of weaving may easily have been acquired from Western Asia; since it was not unusual several centuries ago to import weavers from one country to another to instruct native craftsmen. Furthermore, the features which at a glance differentiate these rugs from all others, proclaim their Chinese character. The diaper patterns that cover the fields of some of them, and the foliate and floral forms that appear in most of them, not only are unlike those of any other groups, but have well-known Chinese elements. A more distinctive feature are the colours, which are relatively few. Many of them, as tan, yellow, and blue, are of shades unlike what are seen in other rugs. Even more distinctive than these are the reds, which never have the primary colours found in other groups but resemble the tints of ripe apricot, peach, pomegranate, and persimmon. Similar tones are seen in old Chinese porcelain. The geometric and floral ornamentation also shows relationship to what is found in the products of other branches of Chinese art. More characteristic still are the small designs which are so related to the philosophic and religious thought of the people and to the industrial and social life that their Chinese origin is unmistakable.

Though it be granted that nearly all were woven in Eastern China, it is not possible satisfactorily to assign them to different classes based on locality; yet without doubt important distinctions, observable also in the early paintings and porcelains and resulting largely from differences of race and character of country, exist between those woven in Northern China, where the highest appreciation of art existed, and those woven in Southern China. It is probable, however, that such marked local distinctions as are found in other groups never existed in Chinese rugs. Such distinctions as do exist relate more to stages in development of the textile art, so that the natural classification is based on the successive periods when they were woven.

The absence of written and traditional history regarding the weaving of these periods is by no means an insuperable obstacle to such classification. By a careful examination of large numbers of rugs, it is possible to arrange them with reasonable accuracy in series that represent progressive forms of ornamentation and design from the archaic to the modern. A most important aid to this arrangement is the interdependence so conspicuous in the several arts of China; for designs of innumerable articles with well-established ages, especially of the ceramic art, have been copied by the weavers.

Technical peculiarities in weaving are also an aid in determining the period to which rugs belong. An important distinction, for instance, often exists in the manner in which the material is spun. If pieces of yarn be taken from old rugs and carefully examined, as they are untwisted, the simpler, cruder methods of spinning practised in former days are often apparent. In some of the oldest fabrics that remain the wool was very loosely spun. Irregularities in the size of yarn are also more noticeable in old than in modern pieces.

Plate 60. Beluchistan Prayer Rug