Oriental Rugs, Antique and Modern

by W. A. Hawley

More important often in determining the relative age of a rug than either design or technical peculiarities of weaving, is the shade of colour; for however excellent were the original dyes and whatever care was exercised in their application, they slowly changed under the mellowing influence of time to tones that are obtained by no human process. Furthermore, as is the case with porcelains, certain colours were peculiar to certain periods. For instance, golden browns are seen mostly in pieces woven before the middle of the XVIII Century, and azure blue in pieces woven before the XIX Century. Yellow with a lemon or citron cast is found principally in pieces woven since the beginning of the XVIII Century; and green is rarely found in pieces woven before the middle of the XVIII Century. Aniline dyes were not introduced into China much before the year 1870. The time when a rug was woven may safely be regarded as not more remote than the period when the ornamentation and designs it contains were generally adopted; yet it may be much more recent, as the oldest designs were copied even after the adoption of newer ones. It is necessary, then, in determining the age of a rug to consider not only the evidence of the spinning, the weaving and designs, but also the evidence of colour.

Though Chinese rugs have features that distinguish them from other groups and divide them into separate classes; they also have many features in common. All are woven with the Sehna knot. In all but the earliest rugs the warp and weft are of cotton; each thread of warp is equally prominent at the back; and the weft, which is coarser than the warp, crosses twice between two rows of knots. The nap of both old and modern rugs is almost always wool or silk, and rarely, if ever, jute or cotton. The sides are finished by carrying the weft around the outer threads of warp, but never so as to form a wide selvage. The lower end, as a rule, has a very narrow web and warp loops; and the upper end has a narrow web and fringe. Compared with other groups they are generally more loosely woven. These and other features of resemblance and of distinction will be more fully noticed in considering the rugs of different periods.

In rugs of this group are constantly seen symbols intimately associated with the religious and philosophic thought of China. One of them is the Sacred Mountain rising out of the waves of eternity, which is an old Chinese emblem, though more frequently found in rugs of Samarkand and Yarkand. Others are the cloud-band and the Joo-e. There are also mythical creatures, as the dragon, emblem of imperial power; the Ky-lin, partly deer, partly unicorn; the Fung-Kwang or phœnix; and the lion-dog. Still other symbolic and decorative designs are the figure Shou and the stork, emblems of longevity; the bat and butterfly, denoting happiness; the conch, wheel of law, and the two fishes, which are Buddhist emblems; and the lyre and chess board, which are symbols of the literati.

It is not improbable that rugs were woven during the Sung dynasty (960-1280 a. d.), when for nearly three centuries prosperity prevailed, literature and art flourished, and the court at Hang Chow was maintained with imperial splendour; but as far as is known, none of them exist. Nor do any remain that may have been woven during the Yuan dynasty (1280-1370) distinguished by the reign of the illustrious Mongol prince, Kublai Khan; though designs appearing in later rugs were used in kindred arts of these and preceding periods.

Ming Rugs.—The oldest Chinese rugs that remain were probably woven near the end of the Ming period, or during the first half of the XVII Century. It may reasonably be assumed that they were superior in quality to those of any former period, since during this time Persia and India were producing their greatest woven masterpieces; and other branches of Chinese art were marked by an advance over the work that had preceded. Yet, on the whole, it was a period of ebb in the splendid accomplishments of intellectual and artistic effort that marked the Tang and Sung dynasties.

Such pieces as exist are distinguished by careful workmanship, archaic designs, and sobriety of colour. Most of the rugs were woven with warp and weft of cotton. Some, intended principally for wealthy mandarins or the imperial court, had pile of silk attached to warp and weft of cotton; and others were made entirely of silk. Fewer in number, but constituting the most sumptuous products of the Chinese weavers’ art, were the rugs of silk woven on a web of metal threads.

The field of many of these early rugs contained all-over patterns. Sometimes the repeat designs are of octagonal shape and are arranged in horizontal and perpendicular lines, so as to leave small diamond-shaped spaces between diagonally placed octagons. Within these designs are often the emblems of happiness or longevity, floral motives, and sometimes archaic dragons. In another well-known pattern the field is completely covered with a swastika-fret and marked at regular intervals with diagonal rows of bats, emblematic of happiness. Occasionally a field of plain colour contains an irregular arrangement of objects used for sacrificial or sacred purposes. Again, it may be covered with an all-over pattern of small archaically drawn dragons resembling some of the earliest designs in Chinese decorative art, or of most conventionalised floral forms on mechanically drawn stems.

The essential feature, however, of a large number of these rugs, and one that probably antedates the all-over pattern, is a central medallion surrounded by a field that is either plain, that is marked with a subdued diaper pattern, or contains what is known as the “tiger skin” pattern, consisting of waving lines repeated throughout the field. The medallions may be either octagonal or, as is more frequently the case, rounded; but the defining lines are angular and generally represent frets. Sometimes they contain archaic dragons, which are so conventionalised in a few pieces that it is apparent that from them originated many of the Chinese scrolls. In other pieces, the shape of the central medallions and the designs which cover them suggest most forcibly that they were copied from old mirror backs. The corners of the fields may contain simple scrolls, but more frequently they correspond closely in drawing with the central medallions.

The borders are equally typical. They are invariably narrow, and generally consist of a single stripe which is figured and surrounded with a coloured edging. Probably over three quarters of the rugs of this period have a stripe with a pattern of swastika-frets. Two of these stripes, which are very old patterns, are illustrated in Plate [N], Figs. 1 and 2 (opp. Page 274). Occasionally some form of the key pattern appears in the inner stripe, but almost all Chinese rugs that have two border stripes with figures belong to a later period. Many of the oldest borders are without figured stripes, and consist merely of one or more stripes of plain colour.

The few colours used in the rugs of this period have deep, rich tones. Undyed dark brown or blackish wool was occasionally used in the outer edging that surrounded the field or in the narrow border stripes; but more frequently the same colour effect was obtained by the use of corrosive dyes that in time have often eaten the wool almost to the foundation of warp and weft. Wools dyed with corrosive browns are also used in the fields and enhance the effect of designs of contrasting colours, which stand out in bold relief. Other colours, as soft dull yellow and shades of blue, are also seen in the borders. The field is usually richer. In some pieces it is a deep red; in others it is a soft yellow, golden brown or yellowish tan, that shows the effect of time on what were originally several shades of apricot. Dark and light blues, sky blue, and robin’s egg blue, as well as jade green and bottle green, are also found in these old pieces. In the metal and silk rugs the glint of silver even though tarnished, adds lustre to colours that have grown deeper and richer with age.