In the parlance of Oriental Rugs, a "antique" rug refers to a rug that is at least 100 years old. A "semi-antique" is one at least 50 years old. (for commercial reasons, the latter is often called "antique" or "old". Anything newer is often difficult to date and is called "modern" or "post war".
An Oriental Rug by definition is a hand woven rug or tapestry from the east (when viewed from the European perspective), or from the south in the case of the North African rug producing areas.
The three major types of weaving techniques are the knotted pile-carpet, the slit tapestry or flat-weave KELIM, and the SOUMAC or wrapped warp technique.
The rug producing areas are Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, The Levant ( Syria, Lebanon), the balkans, Turkey, Armenia, The entire Cacusus, Iraq, Iran (Persia), Beluchistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakistan, Uzbekistan, Afganistian, Packistan, Kerghezia, Northern India, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, all of the western Chinese provinces, much of central and northern China proper, and Japan.
The majority of rugs in America are from Persia, Turkey, Caucasia, Central Asia (Afghan & turkoman), China, and India. Rugs from the other areas mentioned are relatively rare.
It is common practice to refer to both rugs and carpets as rugs in this country, so I shall try to do the same. A rug is six feet by nine feet, or smaller. A carpet is over six by nine feet.
Oriental rugs are classified in the following ways:
As prized object'd art, oriental carpets have
long been known of in the west. They appear in many
early European paintings of the fourteenth to
sixteenth century. * Marco Polo described
Turkish Rugs in glowing terms.
** When Queen Eleanor of Castile visited England
in the Thirteenth Century, she brought oriental rugs
with her.
*** It is known that England was importing
Turkish rugs in the sixteenth Century.
By the end of the nineteenth
century these rugs began to be imported
in huge quantities to America do to the
rising demand and the suffering of severe
hardship and economic devastation in the
east, brought upon by centuries of
western colonial domination and
exploitation. By the beginning of
the twentieth century they had become
so popular in America that anyone
who could afford the low prices had them.
They were popular, cheap and available
in large quantities.
**** Just before the outbreak
of W.W.I the Ottoman empire of Turkey
began a series progroms that amounted
to genocide against the Armenian people.
One of the results of this was to create
a huge influx of refugees who came
to America. A great many of these
people went in to the rug business.
This also occurred after the fall
of the so called Shah of ran and after
the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.
It has been stated in many places that
because of the factors listed above,
there are more rugs in America than
any other place in the world.
** Stanley Reed, Oriental Rugs And Carpets, P. 43 ,Pub. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York
** Stanley Reed, Oriental Rugs And Carpets, P. 46 ,Pub. G.P. Putnam's Sons,
New York
** Charles Jacobsen, Oriental rugs,
p. 15, Pub. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc. Rutland, Vermont 6
There are many differing factors that come into play in determing the quality of an oriental rug. The simplest and most obvious criteria are explained in this chapter.
To start with, there
are the meterials. In order of frquency,
they can be wool, cotton, silk, horse or
goat hair, and linnen. wool is by far,
the most vaired and complex of the meterials
used. An important factor of wool is wether
or not it was taken from the body of a living
or dead animal. When taken from a live animal,
each individual hair seals itself automaticaly
when severed, thus retaining the lanolin
and oils at its core. When this fiber is
then deyed with color, the dye only
penatrates the scaly outer layers
leaving the core filled with
translucent oil. This causes the color
to be refracted with a translucent
richness creating a luminous glow.
Dead wool, on the other hand does
not seal itself up. It loses it's
oils, and as a consequence the dye
penatrates the fiber completely.
This in turn leaves a dull and flat
luster to the color. It also leaves
the wool dry and brittle, causing
the rug to have a short lifespan.
The pile of a rug stands up exposing
the cut ends of the hairs, as these
are walked upon they become pollished,
creating a rich glowing sheen of living color.
Other factors that determine the quality
of wool are what kind of sheep it was
taken from, and what part of the body
it was taken from. The best wool is
taken from the long silky hairs of the underbelly.
AUTHORS NOTE :
Time and space prevent my going
into facts about the other
meterials and multitude of
factors that all go into the
critera that determine the
quality of an oriental rug.
I have included my notes on
this chapter if you wish to read more.
"Let the buyer beware" Is very good advice, but still not good enough to save a consumer from the clutches of an avaricious rug dealer. I will relate an old story told about the rug business to illustrate my point.
A customer had wandered into a rug shop in the bazzar and asked the owner about the size of a certian rug. The dealer then called into the back room for his assistant to bring out the measuring stick. A tiny voice then called back, " which stick master, the one for buying or the one for selling ?"
A little knowledge is dangerious,
especially in the field of oriental
rugs. Just because a rug design might
look simmilar to something in a book
doesent mean it's the same kind of
rug or that you are getting a $20,000.
rug for a $1,000, regardless of what
the dealer tells you. There are just
to many factors that go into what makes
a rug a great work of art for the novice
to possibly know with out having seen
and handeled the real thing. The market
is filled with imitations and
reproductions of antique rugs that
are massproduced in factory suitations.
Also just because a rug is old, doesen't
necessarily mean that it is a good example
of it's type or that the weaver was able
to realize him/herself as an artist
through their craft.
The best advice I could give
the novice is to trust their
own eyes and listen to their own heart
when considering the purchase of a rug.
Is the rug something beautifull ?
Does
It take your breath away ?
Do the colors
seem life like ?
Do the colors seem to have
come from flowers or natural minerals ?
Is The wool rich and glowing ?
Does it seem to be alive ?
Is the design animated ?
Does it seem to change or
appear animate as you look at it ?
Does it alter your state of consciousness
in a profound way ?
Do you feel that you are in
the pressence of something that
could only be described as magic?
If you have answered yes to all
of the above questions then you have
encountered an antique Oriental rug.
I wish you good luck.
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