bout de papier, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1985) — Winter 1985 // Hiver 1985, pp. 12–13
One of the signs of the times is every appearance in our newspapers of a sustained interest in Oriental rugs. Almost any daily carries advertisements offering to purchase rugs, particularly antique examples, with little regard for condition. Specialized auctions are frequently advertised. Surely this phenomenon is another reflection, along with gold, other art forms, furniture and wine, of societies’ edginess about the worth of token value. Rugs have become a cache for the ebb in the value of money.
And why not? Rugs have in unusual measure many of the attributes of value: durability, beauty, ease of transport, uniqueness. They cannot easily suffer depreciation through imitation. Supply is naturally restrained, perhaps diminishing.
There is a bewildering variety in oriental rugs. One scarcely knows where to start an exercise in classification and discrimination. Size? design? colour? age? purpose? origin? The many factors interweave and play on each other like the features of the rug itself.
We have to start somewhere. Perhaps the best point of departure is recognition of what is almost the only common factor. What is an authentic oriental rug? It is a fabric composed of a series of knots binding together parallel cords, the warp. Lines of knots are compacted by thumping down the weft, cross running cords woven through the warp. The ends of the knots cut to form the pile. The knots are almost invariably one of two standard types. They are assorted according to their colour to form a pattern. And that is about all that can be said of all oriental rugs. The quality varies with the fineness of the wool or other fibre, the density of the knots, the design, the fastness of the colour. Beyond these basic facts the subject of oriental rugs undergoes a bewildering sub-grouping of characteristics.
Do It Like Wine
For sheer daunting complexity and capacity for cant the field best compared to rugs is probably that charlatan’s Champs Elysee – wine. Perhaps we could try to unravel the carpet so to speak by following paths parallel to the wine connoisseur. We cannot expect to spot a little charmer bearing comparison with the north slope of the Cote d’Or 1959 but we might avoid being sold the equivalent of a smirking little Graves from the Rheingau. Let’s try.
The first blocking out of wines begins with their broad areas of origin-traditional families of wines. We could take Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rheingau and say Sherry. Roughly speaking, the fundamental families of oriental rugs are Persian, Turkmen, Caucasian, Turkish — and further afield Hindoostan. Just as among the Bordeaux we find Pomerol, St. Emilion, Sauterne, and so on and among the Burgundies: Chambertin, Nuit St. Georges, so among the Persian we find the Isfahan, Tabriz, Heriz, Saruk, Kashan, Shiriz and Kerman. Among the Turkmans we can distinguish the Bokhara, Beshir, Khiva, Pendeh — Afghans and Baluchi are related types. The Caucasians boast Shirvan, Kazak, Bergama, Kershire, Yurak. Such – to name but a few.
We can no more adequately describe and differentiate these lesser families of rugs than we can describe the bouquet or after taste of a roguish little Bordeaux. Like wines the names derive from local geography and families or tribes. In many cases, particularly among the Turkmans, the latter move about. To reach some semblance of differentiation we might try to assign prevalent characteristics to the broad categories as we do with the wines; full-bodied, sweet, dry and so on.
The Persians are the most varied category. To the extent that there was a golden age in rug making it coincided with the Sefavi dynasty in Persia in the 16th and 17th centuries. The supreme example of the art to survive is a Persian carpet of this era
– the Ardebil, woven to cover the tomb of the founder of the dynasty, Shah Ismail. The carpet, which is in the Victoria and Albert museum measures 38 feet by 17 feet, eight inches. It is unusual, almost unique in that it has a “cartouche” in one corner giving the name of the master artist, Maksud of Kashan and the date, 1539-40. This is about as old as a carpet can be so beware of pretensions beyond or approaching that date. The carpet has a superb medallion or centre piece which is also a characteristic of the Persian. These resemble in format Persian miniature paintings.
Likely Persians
If the carpet depicts a hunting scene or other attempts at representation of human or animal life it is quite likely to be Persian. The Shi-ite Persians were less inhibited in this regard than their near fundamentalist Sunni coreligionists in Islam. Also plant life, arabesques and tendrils, in general, departures from geometric design are most likely Persian. The use of silk and gold and silver filaments together with lighter colours such as lime and lemon are typical of Persian carpet called Polonaise — a type introduced to Europe through Poland and probably imitated there. If a carpet has any significant green areas it is probably Persian or perhaps Indian and fairly new. Persians have their full share of the repetitive, traditional motifs particularly stylized flowers often crysanthemums and lotus representing happiness and fertility. The iris, which occurs in the finer rugs, represents religious liberty. The palm hopes for the fulfillment of secret wishes. Carrying on the theme of luxuriant repose and the dolce vita the weaving of separate compartments betokening small formal gardens are almost exclusively Persian. The Persians did not reject repetitive “all over” designs. For instance the carpets of Qum, a town favoured by the Ayatollah Khomeni, very often have repetitive pine cone or leaf patterns (the mir-i-bota) such as we have come to identify with Paisley fabrics. These resemble a swollen tear drop. Beware of “antique” Qums. They are very rare.
A type of Persian carpet, the beautiful Feraghan is particular in that the aspect differs with the angle or distance of viewing. Cloud forms also appear in the Persians perhaps prompted by the Chinese.
Enough! The larger and squarer your likely it is Persian.
The Turkmans. What of the Turkmans? Well these are the red carpets and their basic design is the “gul”, usually an octagonal tablet, probably a stylized flower. Gul means flower (rose) in Persian and badge in Turkish. Either will do. The Turkman family is usually nomad-made and pretty well synonymous with Bokhara. Red, from the root of the madder plant, was the colour most accessible to the nomads. They had not the variety of material available to the Persians, nor the sedentary leisure for involved and convoluted design. There is a great range in the reds. Uniformity in the raw wool was hard to come by. This is partly responsible for “a brash” a feature which is much more common in the Turkmans and other rugs of nomads than in the Persian. Abrash is a streaking or unevenness in colour over the width of the rug. It could be just bad workmanship or a mishap in dyeing as when the skein is too tightly twisted or packed for the dye to penetrate. Or soil and climatic variations encountered by the nomads as they move about cause variations in hue. It is taken as a sign of authenticity and an indication of hand work. As such it is likely to be simulated. The Samarkand is a Turkman rug so called because the city was a gathering place for the products of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. The Afghan and Baluchi rugs, the latter often with a shaggy warm brown background, are kinds of Turkman.
More Practical
Generally, again in distinction from the most Persian of Persian rugs, they are relatively loosely woven and shaggy, used more for warmth and other practical purposes than for show. As a result we have examples of the art in a variety of practical modes such as saddle bags, gun covers and door hangings. Many of these like many of the rugs have great charm. Turkestan had no real commerce with the west until atter the Russian conquest late in the last century. There are few examples of any antiquity.
The Turki tribe is considered by many to have produced the best of the Turkman carpets. Typically they have a really red background to interlocking rows of major “guls”. ’. Yellow appears in the Turkmans especially in the Beshir. In general though Turkman rugs are rather alike. differences are tribal. Aside from the “guls” there is an unmistakeable Turkman design, the “hatckla”. This is a broad cross centred and extending over the whole central field dividing the rug into quarters.
The Turkish are hard to identify. One is tempted to hazard that a carpet without the sinuous elegance of the Persian or the repetitive “gul” is Turkish. This is the easy way out. But they are less distinctive and there is more fixed and individual regional variation. The older Seljuk work featured stars, diamonds and other geometric design but also stylized birds and dragons. The Ottomans, strict Sunnis, scraped the more cursive charms of the old Turkish. They tend to favour the geometric with lanterns and jugs, also stylized. Octagons centred in rows of squares are typically Turkish. A sort of beige central ground is perhaps Turkish but again something in the Turkish psyche appears to have rejected a single dominating motif. There appears to be acceptance of a stylized bird pattern. Another singular feature is the occurrence of three circles linked in a triangle. This is called the “seal of Tamurlane”. Bright, varied colours and a tendency to zig and zag are also Turkish.
The Caucasians seem rather like the Turkish, more so than the Persians and Turkmans. They are highly imaginative and colourful. They tend more to repetition. One type, the Talish is characterized by a plain blue centre. Small stars are a recurring teature.
The rugs of India and Pakistan, except for tribals, are derived mainly from the Persian.
One can choose as one will among these types of rugs. The many characteristics have been outlined to give us an idea of what we are buying — and to be able to say what it is. Also it may be helpful in countering the more outrageous claims of the obscurantist vendor.
It may help too to drop a casual observation on some of the common patterns, particularly those used along borders. We will often see the wineglass, the key or the cloud which is quite frequently found in the Chinese rugs and called a T’ang cloud. Then there is the ram’s horn or the tarantula. Quite frequently, too, the Shah Abbas or palmette which looks in some forms like a maple leaf with a fussy foliate interior ground.
It could do no harm to show a passing awareness that rugs are also named according to size and shape, as for instance a Kanareh, which we might call a runner, or a pushti, a small bed size rug. Prayer rugs, those with a mithrab or niche which points towards Mecca are better known. A rug with several mithrabs in series may be quite valuable. There is also a sort of convention that beyond forty square feet a rug becomes a carpet.
The quality depends on a good many factors; condition of course, aesthetic characteristics and importantly, by the number of knots per square inch. The number of knots depends to some extent on the material but anything in the hundreds is quite good. That a rug is hand made is usually quite evident from the lack of sterility but it is well to peer into the pile to the central knots. If they are not same colour as the pile there could well be artifice. Also, of course, due to the manner of making them the pattern should be evident on the back. Also twist a rug to put strain on the base threads. Listen for any cracking.
Care Is Important
Care is common sense; use of under felts, avoid dampness, do not beat, roll against the pile, do not fold. Clean gently. Do not heat. Wrap a rolled rug to keep the moths out.
Part of the fun in having a rug you like is the particularity. Also the number of uses. A fine rug makes a fine wall hanging. What of a gay or warm toned modestly priced tribal to hang against the interior of your entrance door to help keep the winter out?
With such rich variety and price range there is a comfortable field for chacuning one’s gout. But a few things should be borne in mind. First the oriental rug is a foreign thing that could be quite easily lost or ill used in a Western house. A largish carpet with a centre medallion and a rich, full border cannot be shown to good advantage in our rooms and indeed, it may detract from our nice furniture. And then of course the price. The smaller, looser, rich warm-toned tribals show to great advantage against Canadian wood and brick and our relatively plain furniture. So do the all-over, repetitive designs in small scale. Rugs of a size to move about let us permute our pleasures. After all few of us have a cellar stocked with Nuit St. Georges ’59 — but we could amply enjoy a stock of good, sound, even dashing appelation contrôlée.
Aside from the pleasure and use we get from the rug, we may as well dabble a bit in values. Most of us will not have the outlay for a large investment and that means a smaller rug; probably a carefully selected Persian. There is less likelihood of an across the board value increase in a particular type of tribal. But there is a certain amount of action that warrants attention. Well made Baluchi, for instance, underwent a recent general price rise. Generally your rug will rise in value through time. It is hard to conceive of a general collapse in value as may occur occasionally in penny stocks — if there are such things still. Another safety net is the fact that as a general rule the dealer will undertake to buy back. No great risks for him when you think of it but rather comforting to you. Also one should remember the obvious. You are buying at retail and if you want to unload in a hurry you have first to turn to the wholesale market – and very few potential buyers of a rug of any value are going to take the word of the hard pressed individual seller. There are frequent auctions. Watch them. Read about rugs. Get into the technical detail of types, of fringes, borders, selvedge (the sloping shoulders near the edges).
Perhaps one ought not to worry much about the intrinsic worth of a rug as a piece of Islamic cultural history. Some of the oldest and best were made for the European market. Appreciation of this aspect is not for everyone — owner, viewer or prospective buyer. Certainly do not go for anything atypical or “funky” — except for your own delight and use. Do not be in a hurry either in selection or in “trading up”. A good rug you have selected carefully and have confidence in is a constant pleasure. And if you have younger children they will in the fullness of time make marvellous wedding gifts, or part of what they grew up with and a future heritance of constantly increasing value for those to come. Really it is hard to do better than to exercise the happy pursuit of rugs.
Mr. Brett is Senior Trade Commissioner in San Jose and a frequent contributor to bout de papier. A
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1985) — Winter 1985 // Hiver 1985, pp. 12–13. Read the rest of this issue →
