Oriental Rugs, Antique and Modern

by W. A. Hawley

MAP OF PERSIA

The best known of the floral patterns, repeated with formal precision throughout the field, is the Herati pattern, which is of uncertain antiquity and origin. It consists of a central figure that generally represents a rose, but sometimes a peony or rosette, about which are grouped other figures like crumpled or lance-shaped leaves. Probably both the central and encircling figures are of Persian origin, though the latter have been regarded by some authorities as representing fish and attributed to Egypt or to China; in fact, they are occasionally drawn so as distinctly to show eyes and fins. Very frequently four of these figures are arranged about a lattice-shaped design with pendants and a central rosette, as in Plate [O], Fig. 4 (Page 291). This Herati or Fish Pattern, as it is frequently called, appears in many of the old Persian rugs and in most of the modern pieces, particularly the Feraghans and Herats. A less frequently seen floral pattern, which has been used from a very remote time and is still represented in modern rugs, is the Guli Hinnai, or Flower of Hinnai (Plate [O], Fig. 3). Of this plant Mohammed was so fond that he called it the “chief of this world and the next.” It occurs as a formal pattern in many of the Feraghans, and in several other rugs in which its bright five-petalled flowers are scattered informally over the field. Another floral pattern frequently seen is the Mina Khani, illustrated in Plate [O], Fig. 2, that was named after Mina Khan, a former Persian ruler. It is particularly characteristic of Persian Kurdish pieces in which a dark blue field is covered by a network of intersecting olive-coloured vines. At the intersections are placed large flowers that alternate in regular series according to their different designs and colours; and between them often appear other flowers, such as the smaller and brighter coloured Hinnai, so as to destroy too great stiffness of design. As the flowers are relatively large and sufficiently separate to show the intervening blue field, this is one of the most effective of the formal repetitive floral patterns. A still more formal pattern (Plate O, Fig. 1), which appeared in some of the Persian rugs of the XVI and XVII centuries, was named after Shah Abbas. It is not unlikely that it was suggested by the Mina Khani design, to which it bears a slight resemblance; but the principal motive is so conventionalised that it has lost much of the floral character. Between the large and formal palmettes, that are arranged with mathematical precision, are grouped with similar regularity smaller palmettes, connected by angular vines and leafy branches.

Only a few Persian rugs have the formal repetitive patterns, such as the Herati, Guli Hinnai, Mina Khani, and Shah Abbas. Others have the repetitive pattern of bushes, flowers, or the pear, on a field of rich colour. The remainder have patterns consisting largely of scrolls, vines, or tendrils, drawn with exquisite art and decorated with leaves, flowers, and buds in beautiful profusion; also birds, beasts, human beings, demons, and other imaginary shapes, sometimes associated with the foliage but frequently bearing no apparent relation to it, appear as special motives. Since many of these forms, which originated in the remote past, have been transplanted from one country to another, and conventionalised to meet the new environment, it is interesting to observe the designs in the different classes of rugs and trace as far as possible the influences to which they are due.

Herats.—On great lines of travel between India, Turkestan, and Persia, the city of Herat in Northwestern Afghanistan for centuries occupied commercially a most important position, so that its people long since became familiar with the best fabrics of the surrounding countries. During the XV Century it reached its greatest prosperity, and exerted an important influence on the art and culture of Western Asia. Before the art decadence that followed the capture of the city by Nadir Shah in 1731, and the removal of many of its artisans to Persia, its looms were producing some of the best rugs of the Orient, which excelled in delicacy of drawing and in perfect harmony of colours. The fields contained patterns of serrated leaves entwined with flowing arabesques, scrolls, and Chinese cloud-bands. Conspicuous among this tracery were palmettes and such flowers as the lotus and peony, which were often most realistically drawn.[17] These rugs are of further interest, as they contained in field and border the design that, slightly changed, appears in many of the later rugs of Persia as the Herati pattern.

The modern rugs are as unlike other Afghans as were the antique pieces and show a close relationship to those of Persia. Nor is this surprising, as the weavers, though falling far short of the high standards of the time when Herat was part of Persia, are still mindful of the early traditions. Moreover, many of the rugs are made across the border in Khorassan, and have the silky pile peculiar to the rugs of that province; but their tones of colour, consisting principally of red or blue in the field, and light green, yellow, and ivory in the border, as well as most of the patterns, are dissimilar. In one type the fields are covered with pear designs; but their bent narrow ends always turn in the same direction, whilst those of other rugs turn in different directions in alternate rows. Another type suggests the Feraghans, because their fields are covered with the Herati or Fish pattern; but the borders of the Feraghans usually have the well-known turtle pattern, while the borders of these adhere to the traditional Herati design. It is also not unusual to see a large central medallion, in which blue or red predominates, separated by a field of lighter colour from the triangular patterns of the corners. Now and then, a nomadic influence is seen in the small adventitious figures of the field.

Plate 24. Bijar Rug