[3] The influence of the physical aspects of a country on its art as expressed in architecture is nowhere more clearly shown than in Egypt, and there is little doubt that, likewise, the character of the native rugs was influenced by the spirit of the sluggish Nile and the boundless desert wastes. But as Egypt long ago ceased to be a rug-producing country, and none of its ancient rugs remain, it will only be briefly referred to in this work, though symbolic designs which had their origin there during the Caliphate or even earlier were adopted by foreign weavers and occasionally appear with modified form in modern rugs.
[4] It is said that he carried Persian weavers as captives to Asia Minor and Constantinople.
[5] This is a product of flowers of the genus Delphinum that grows in the Himalayas. It is also obtained as a powder from Afghanistan.
[6] In a few rare instances a knot is tied to four threads of warp.
[7] Most Sehna knots are right-hand knots, but the Sehna knots of a large proportion of Khorassan rugs are left-hand knots.
[8] As far as the writer is aware, no one has hitherto called attention to the many precise distinctions there are in weaving, and to the fact that each class of rugs follows a distinct type of its own. For this reason this branch of the subject is treated more fully than would otherwise be necessary.
[9] A few of the weavers about Gozene in Asia Minor make rugs with a double foundation, in which a single thread of coarse weft crosses twice between parallel rows of threads of warp. Only rarely is this method followed in other districts.
[10] Sir George Birdwood has made the statement that “A deep and complicate symbolism, originating in Babylonia and possibly in India, pervades every denomination of Oriental carpet. Thus the carpet itself prefigures space and eternity, and the general pattern or filling, as it is technically termed, the fleeting, finite universe of animated beauty. Every colour has its significance; and the design, whether mythological or natural, human, bestial, or floral, has its hidden meaning. Even the representatives of men hunting wild beasts have their special indications. So have the natural flowers of Persia their symbolism, wherever they are introduced, generally following that of their colours. The very irregularities either in drawing or colouring, to be observed in almost every Oriental carpet, and invariably in Turkoman carpets, are seldom accidental, the usual deliberate intention being to avert the evil eye and insure good luck.”
[11] The equivalent of 106 feet square.
[12] See his work, “The Holy Carpet of the Mosque at Ardebil.”