THE MENTOR 1916.03.01, No. 102,
Chinese Rugs

LEARN ONE THING
EVERY DAY

MARCH 1 1916

SERIAL NO. 102

THE
MENTOR

A RUG OF MIXED DESIGNS

The Center Is a Faded Magenta Red.
The Border Ground Is Pale Yellow

CHINESE RUGS

By JOHN K. MUMFORD
Author and Expert on Oriental Rugs

DEPARTMENT OF
FINE ARTS

VOLUME 4
NUMBER 2

FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY

A Thing of Beauty

No word in the language is more abused than “beauty.”
A pretty thing is a thing of beauty; a pretty picture
is a picture of beauty; and so following. Lacking
a proper descriptive term for anything attractive, we,
too often, employ the word “beauty.” What term have
we then with which to pay just tribute to true beauty?

The real, final test of beauty is that it wears well—not
in a material way, but in the qualities that are
truly beautiful. The rose is fragile material and its
life is brief, but rose beauty is lasting and rose fragrance
clings sweetly to the memory—so that the rose has become
a synonym of beauty. The message of true beauty
is enduring and, oft repeated, grows in charm. “A thing
of beauty is a joy forever.”

A distinguishing attribute of true beauty is
authority. A thing of beauty bears on its very
forefront the stamp of authority. It does not plead for
recognition—it commands it. The snow-capped summit
at sundown, the Madonna face on a master’s canvas,
the poet’s “lofty rhyme,” the fragrant flower, the
harmonious symphony, the “frozen music” of architecture—the
countless varied forms of beauty in nature, art
and life ask no favor nor do they play to the fancy of
the moment. Created in intelligence, sincerity and
truth, and inspired by lofty devotion, they compel a
lasting homage.

CHINESE RUGS

ANTIQUE CHINESE RUG

Monograph Number One in The Mentor Reading Course

This attractive rug is representative of a very admirable class
of Chinese floor fabrics, and illustrates in the clearest manner
some interesting and important features in the rug weaving
art of China. The knottage, as will be learned from the
specification above, is not great. A Mohammedan sedjadeh
with only 42 knots to the square inch would be held of small merit,
unless it came from one of two or three districts in Asia Minor—Bergamo
for example, or else had some individual element of value, such as great
age, phenomenal color, or uncommon design. In China, however, as
has been pointed out in the accompanying text, high textures are not
accounted of large importance.

This rug is not of great antiquity, nor yet is it of very recent
manufacture. It might with safety be attributed to the Kien Lung time,
or some reign immediately thereafter. The best artistic tenets of Persia—so
far as they appertain to rug weaving—have been conscientiously
followed. The Mohammedan influence is not difficult to trace, and yet
at no time can a foreign or vagrant note be discovered. The rug is
thoroughly Chinese, not only in spirit but in every detail. It will bear
careful study in the light of what has been said regarding the absorbent
and adaptive quality of Chinese art in all ages. The border area is
relatively narrow, wherein marked deference is paid to the oldest and
best Chinese standards, and for all a distinctly floral character prevails,
the utmost simplicity is maintained. It is a notably consistent rug.
There is perfect harmony between border and center, and the most perfect
manifestation of the Chinese artistic sense, perhaps, lies in the
fact that, to the end of preserving simplicity and balance, the weaver
has carefully refrained from “cluttering up” the border section with
“guard stripes” requiring additional patterns, which in a rug of this
character would have been superfluous and therefore disturbing.

Throughout the field of the rug, despite a decidedly ornate touch,
there is still a careful avoidance of excess. Only two elements appear—the
emblematic butterfly and floral devices, which not only are combined
to form the fine medallion, but which, with the utmost refinement
of handling, suffice for all the secondary and tertiary constituents
of the design.

Referring again to the fidelity with which the Persian theory has
been followed, observe that the design works out from a mathematically
precise central point, and is built in all directions with perfect equality.
Every figure has its exact counterpart on the opposite side; side or end,
the balance is preserved even to the corner patterns. Given such impeccable
skill in the adjustment of the design, there remains only one test
point; namely, the distribution of color. Observe in this regard with
what nicety the dainty touches of light and dark blue are balanced
against one another, from the central medallion outward; and also how
the little note of irregularity which is held of such vital importance by
the superstitious Persian, even in his greatest masterpieces, is struck
here by employing blue in some of the smaller field devices, butterflies
and flowers alike, and omitting it from the corresponding figures at the
opposite side.

Herein lies the human charm in the old weaving of Asia, the touch
which makes us know the ancient weaver and his thought, across the
space of lifetimes.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 2, SERIAL No. 102
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

CHINESE RUGS

ANTIQUE CHINESE RUG

Monograph Number Two in The Mentor Reading Course

The student should compare this rug, in all its details, with that
reproduced in Plate I, the property of Mr. Carll Tucker. The
two fabrics belong practically to the same school, and are not
widely separated in period. They have many points in common.
Those in which they do not agree are the more important.
For many reasons I am inclined to accord the honors to the other rug
on the score of age. This piece (Plate II) is in some ways superior in
point of color. In treatment, in concept, in artistry, it is not the equal
of the rug in Plate I, and yet to look at, it would by most people be considered
more beautiful. This is probably due almost wholly to coloring.
Something has been said in the accompanying text regarding the yellowish
cast given to Chinese reds, and the manner in which the peach and
apricot shades are produced by dyeing loose red over fast yellow. The
rug in Plate I is an illustration of that trick in dyeing.

This piece (Plate II) is the very rare exception. Its ground color
is pure and cool. In certain lights it is almost a shell pink. The
years do not reveal in it any trace of fundamental yellow. This rug
lacks the exquisite simplicity and refinement of the first. It is richer, in
design as well as in color, stronger in key, but nevertheless splendidly
consistent. In addition to the warmer color of the center, there is a freer
use of both light and dark blues, which however are managed with the
greatest skill. There is more vagrancy in design, due to a manifest
effort at elaboration. The added border stripe bearing the wave or fret
pattern is a necessary contribution made in order to balance the stronger
center. The same may be said of the small round medallions in the
main border, bearing very ancient symbols of longevity.

After long study of these two rugs, I have come to the conclusion
that the design shown in Plate I is a rug design, made for that purpose
and no other, and the one here shown, beautiful as it is, was borrowed
from the porcelain, perhaps from several vases. There are certain Persian
rugs of the 17th and 18th centuries, and many Perso-Indian rugs
of a still earlier period, which have something in common with this
minute floral type of Chinese design. Which artist, the Mohammedan
or the Chinese, was the borrower and which the lender would be difficult
to say at this distance.

But all this aside, it is still worthy of note and should never be
forgotten in the study of Chinese rugs, that whatever and wherever
they borrow they are still Chinese. In this rug (Plate II) there is one
concession to the Persian habit, which might better have been omitted
for the sake of decorative purity; namely, the conversion of the narrow
inner “water” stripes into corner ornaments. Not that the shapes thus
obtained are Persian in their character. They are not. On the contrary,
they suggest the conventional corner dragons in the oldest Ming
rugs, of which a superb example is found in Plate VI. But the manner
in which they are brought out is more that of the heavy Chinese teak
wood carving, which plays so large a part in the interior decoration
of China down to the present day. They add an element of
strength to the design; but they distinctly “do not belong,” and constitute
therefore an inharmonious factor when considered in the light of
cold analysis. None the less, with its superb coloring, the rug is far more
beautiful than most that come out of China in these days of rug decadence.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 2, SERIAL No. 102
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

CHINESE RUGS

ROUND CHINESE RUG

Monograph Number Three in The Mentor Reading Course

In point of actual age, this very unusual rug is perhaps the
youngest of all the six pieces selected for color reproduction
with this number of The Mentor. The general observations
that have been made regarding the distinguishing characters
of the various periods will be forcibly illustrated by comparing
this rug with Plate VI, which represents one of the earliest fabrics. The
difference between them, from the standpoint of simplicity in design, is
decidedly marked, and constitutes an entire lesson on the course of
Chinese art. Reserving comment on Plate VI for its proper place, it is
interesting to note some of the features of the round rug. Its elaboration
must be emphasized first of all. No effort of which the maker was capable
has been spared in the purpose to make this a carpet of note. Its shape
alone is sufficient proof of this. The circular rugs, whether Chinese or
Persian, are extremely rare. The only other one of great importance is
an early Ming piece owned by a gentleman living in New York City.

In Plate III, pursuing the comparison suggested above, there should
be noted the great complexity of design. In the attempt to create a masterpiece,
the weaver has borrowed from all the Chinese decorative
schools and periods. He has multiplied borders and employed a world
of material for their ornamentation. Dismissing the outer band of blue,
which serves as a sort of protection for the rest, examine the main
stripe. The various spaces herein, set off in a sort of cartouches after
the fashion of Persian borders but nevertheless with a Chinese drawing,
are filled with elements of divers sorts. Twelve of them bear the repeating
patterns used as ground covering in much older rugs, including
the fret or key pattern and the lozenge-shaped diaper, which is commonly
supposed to be Indian in its origin and of a very early day.
The alternating sections have cloud bands, flowers, and nature symbols
such as were copied into the Persian weavings after the invasion of
Hulaku Khan, and appear in many of the high-school carpets of Persia
of the 15th and 16th centuries. Two, at least, of these alternating sections
bear plants in pots, a later decorative form, and purely Chinese.
Inside this there is a wave or “Greek” border stripe; not flat, as in the
older rugs, but shaded, or in a sort of perspective. This and the stripe
which lies inside, between it and the field, with the white spots, on a
ground of blue, are believed generally to be indisputably of late origin.

Passing to the center field, the same ambitious profusion is manifest.
The ground design is of most composite character; flower stems,
potted growths, suggesting the “Hundred Antiques” pattern, and, by
way of good measure, certain of the Buddhistic emblems of Happy
Augury, notably the “Entrails” or Endless Knot. All these are laid,
in various exquisite colorings, upon a field of the softest gold yellow.
Passing to the central medallion, yet a new element confronts us in
the Foo dogs, of which several are employed, somewhat crowded, and
confused by reason of their coloring, which, nevertheless, is good and,
so far as balance is concerned, well distributed. These are inclosed by
a broad band or wreath of more or less conventionalized flowers. The
solidity of this center is for the purpose of offsetting the rather too heavy
border section. In this the true workman appears.

Of the coloring, the wool, and the technical skill displayed, only
the highest praise is to be spoken. There are few Chinese rugs that
surpass this in textile quality.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 2, SERIAL No. 102
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

CHINESE RUGS

OLD CHINESE RUG

Monograph Number Four in The Mentor Reading Course

This is what is known as the “grains of rice” pattern. While
the reason for this name is obvious, the design is really
derived from the “cash”—the familiar Chinese coin with a
square hole in the center. In old rugs, where the color has
faded, it is difficult to trace the resemblance, but this derivation
is vouched for on good authority. The “cash” is a symbol of
good luck. It is customary not to fancy this pattern; but the fact
remains that it always sells, like the equally repeating “fish pattern”
rugs of Persia. It is almost certain that the reason for this is the simplicity
and cheerfulness of rugs of this type. The yellow used in them is
usually not of the most attractive shade, verging as it does toward the
“lemon” and “pale mustard” quality. Altogether, however, it provides
a most agreeable background, usually for some figure rather more ornately
drawn but usually neat and clean-cut in its effect, as in this
instance.

This rug was made somewhat later than Plates I and II, and
probably after the time of the Emperor Kien Lung. During that reign
more or less elaborate use seems to have been made of foliate floral
arrangements, drawn like those seen here in the broader border stripe.
From using these patterns in small areas, such as borders or in individual
bits upon a plain field, was developed the fashion of covering the entire
central area with them, almost always in the same colors,—yellow and
blush red. The reds were inclined to fade, and as the rugs grew older
they attained wonderful delicacy of tone. Where the “grains of rice”
pattern is employed there is, in most cases, a certain quantity of red or
pink interpolated in some part of the rug, for the obvious purpose of
showing up the somewhat cold, thin yellow, which otherwise would be
too weak to be attractive. It is noticed here in the main border, the
ground of the inner border with fret pattern, and in the scrolls which
inclose the five floral medallions.

For some reason, probably racial, there appears in these “rice pattern”
rugs far more often than in any type the “barring” of color—that
is to say, a change in the ground color, usually to a lighter shade—so
as to form a bar or transverse stripe across the field. This is a common
practice among the Kurds in western Persia, who believe that it
makes for good luck. Further illustration of this irregularity occurs
widely throughout Chinese weavings in the seemingly “hit-or-miss”
distribution of many colors, principally the blues in the border patterns.
This peculiarity is very well shown in the present example, but is confined
to the border section. In the medallions of the field every element
seems to have been worked out with the greatest regularity and
exactitude.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 2, SERIAL No. 102
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

CHINESE RUGS

OLD CHINESE TEMPLE RUG

Monograph Number Five in The Mentor Reading Course

Rugs of this type, which seldom make their way to America,
have been attributed to Mongolia. There are reasons for
believing that this piece came direct from a temple in the
borders of Tibet. It resembles in many ways the now famous
rug in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for which the late
J. P. Morgan paid $25,000. Although smaller than the Museum temple
carpet, the one here reproduced is superior to it in textile quality and
probably in age. Both have the imperial five-clawed dragons of the
Ming, contesting over the “jewel” which is one of the Buddhist symbols.
Both rugs also have across their lower end the sacred mountains and the
sea, depicted in their ancient traditional form. There the resemblance
may be said to end. It is in the symbols distributed throughout the field
that this rug excels the other from the documentary standpoint. In
addition to the cloud and cotyledon figures, with which both rugs are
ornamented, this piece contains all the principal symbols of Happy
Augury,—the Flaming Wheel, the Sacred Lotus, the Fishes, the Canopy,
the Jewel, the State Tent, the Endless Knot, and the Conch Shell. Here
appears also, in soft shades of brown, the bat, recognized as a symbol
of longevity.

In the top of the rug and extending from one side to the other, is a
continuous festoon, made up of conventionalized buds and flowers of
the lotus. This appears invariably in rugs woven for the draping of
temple pillars, or for religious hangings, and it is never found save in
fabrics made for some devotional purpose. It will be noted that this part
of the rug, a space about eighteen inches wide, is very much worn. The
most likely explanation of this condition is that the rug was used on an
altar and that a rail or other barrier prevented the nearer approach of
the devotees.

This extraordinary carpet presents the most convincing illustration
of what has been said in the text regarding the methods used to secure
blush-red shades,—peach, apricot, and the like. In China it is customary
to quilt the backs of nearly all small- and medium-sized rugs that
are used on floors, benches or kongs (built-in brick heating devices).
Oftentimes the cotton cloth used to cover the bats of quilting cotton is
brought up over the end of the rug and sewed fast. This piece was brought
to America in some haste, and the quilting was not removed until after
it arrived here. When it was taken off, the original color was revealed.
It may be seen in the color plate, a brilliant stripe across the lower end
of the rug.

People are often misled by the absence of border from certain Chinese
rugs, into the belief that they are not intact. This is of course an error,
and it is worthy of note that the Sacred rugs, containing in their designs
a high measure of religious symbolism, are almost invariably without
borders.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 2, SERIAL No. 102
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

CHINESE RUGS

VERY EARLY CHINESE RUG

Monograph Number Six in The Mentor Reading Course

It should be, and probably will be, unnecessary to write any
words of praise for the wonderful old carpet so well reproduced
in this plate. It has all the marks of great and genuine
antiquity. It represents the Chinese rug-weaving art at its
best, so far as clear concept, perfect simplicity, and balance
go, and the marvelous color which distinguishes the highest expression.
When this piece came to America, together with the temple carpet shown
in Plate V, it was in a sorry state of disrepair, although but little of the
original web was missing. The work of reparation occupied a very considerable
period of time, but resulted in bringing back to life and utility
one of the most perfect examples of early weaving that have ever been
imported.

If praise of the rug is unnecessary, analysis of it is next to impossible,
for the good reason that there is nothing much to analyze. In color
there are only two shades of tan, one gold, the other brown, and the one
shade of very peculiar, misty blue. These, together with the wide band
of dark brown around the sides and ends, all softened by age, complete
the narrowest color schedule it could well be possible to employ in a rug.
The range of design is still more limited. There is nothing but the fret
in the central medallion and the single border, and the small medallions
and corners, which, while not pretending to actual depiction, even conventionally,
are nevertheless doubtless derived from the simple dragon
forms so widely used at the remote period when this rug was made. In
all this there is nothing complex, nothing pretentious, and yet the whole
has a decorative atmosphere, and a completeness, which could not have
been more impressive and which a free use of divers patterns could only
have impaired.

From the standpoint of composition, particular attention should
be paid to this blue. The color printing process has fortunately reproduced
it with astonishing fidelity. It is not alone unique among the
multitude of wonderful blues in which the old Chinese dyers excelled,
but it would be difficult for the most skilful of present day colorists to
have selected or devised a shade which would have taken its place in
complementing to the shades of gold brown which dominate the entire
fabric. In the light of such an accomplishment, it is difficult to believe
that the scientific theory of color was worked out by a Frenchman, at so
very late a day.

Some importance, finally, attaches to the brown band formed
around the outside of the rug. Wide observation of old Chinese
rugs reveals the fact that brown, used for this purpose, is an almost unfailing
mark of very early origin. As time went on, blue began to supersede
it, and through recent centuries the blue band has been well nigh
universal; though in some few localities, apparently, brown has been
adhered to for this purpose, down to a comparatively late day.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 2, SERIAL No. 102
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

CHINESE RUGS

By JOHN KIMBERLY MUMFORD

Author and Expert on Rugs

COLOR PLATES

ANTIQUE CHINESE RUG

ANTIQUE CHINESE RUG

ROUND CHINESE RUG

COLOR PLATES

OLD CHINESE RUG

OLD CHINESE TEMPLE RUG

VERY EARLY CHINESE RUG

A VERY CONSISTENT DESIGN

Center and border have a single motive.
The fret and spot stripes furnish the accent

THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS

MARCH 1, 1916

Entered at the Post-office at New York, N. Y., as second-class
matter. Copyright, 1916, by The Mentor Association, Inc.

There are many reasons for believing that the weaving of rugs was
not indigenous to China, but was borrowed, perhaps a very long
time ago, from Persia, or, possibly even earlier, from the Turkomans,
to whom has generally been attributed the invention of the piled or upstanding
knot. Recent investigations lead one to disbelieve in this, and
to consider even these ancient Turkomans as more or less modern. But
they nevertheless confirm the belief that rug weaving was an acquired art
with the Chinese. This conviction is further sustained by the relatively
small part rugs or rug weaving have had in the Chinese artistic tradition,
the absence of reference to them in literature, and the fewness of fine Chinese
rugs as compared with the multitude of wonderful pieces that have
emanated from Persia, Turkestan, India, and Turkey.

In China rugs do not appear to have been so much a part of the daily,
intimate life of the people as they are and always have been in the Moslem
countries, nor have they received so much of reverent attention.
True, much of Chinese religious symbolism has been woven into the
rugs, but chiefly in the few special pieces made for the ornamentation or
furnishing of the temples. The Mohammedan’s rug is closely related to
his daily devotions. In China the rug has no such place, but is in the
main a utility; and for this reason, perhaps, efforts to produce masterpieces
have been far fewer in China, and
there appears to have been no record or tradition
of individual weavers of renown. In
only a few instances is there found in Chinese
rugs the studious and wonderful elaboration
displayed, for example, in the sixteenth-century
Persian rugs, the fine fabrics of old
Damascus, or the superlative weavings of
the Perso-Indian artists.

A VERY AMBITIOUS DESIGN

The garden idea is apparent. The deer,
stork, tree, and cotyledon (seed leaf)
forms are of the “Shou” order suggestive
of long life. The round fret forms at the
corners likewise symbolize this

The art of China, as expressed in porcelain
and in painting, took hold upon the
fancy of the West long ago: witness the
Delft ware, which of course owes its inspiration
to Chinese sources. Europe had a
passable notion of Chinese artistic tenets at
a rather early period. So, relatively, had
America. It is interesting to note that of
the Chinese rugs, now so amazingly popular
in this country, practically nothing was
known until fifteen or twenty years ago,
save to an exceedingly small number of people.
The period of their predominance in
popular favor has been brief; but already
the supply of old pieces with real merit is
exhausted, particularly in the larger sizes.

SUDDEN POPULARITY

The vogue of the Chinese rug in this
country is unquestionably due to the artistic
sense and discernment of the late Stanford
White. In a certain establishment in New York there had grown up an
accumulation of old Chinese pieces, some of them very rare and beautiful,
which had been “thrown in” with other art objects purchased.
They begged for attention at thirty or forty dollars each, until Mr. White
placed one or two of them in the hall of the late William C. Whitney’s
house. From that moment the demand for them, and consequently their
market value, advanced at a prodigious rate.

No matter what anybody may claim, it is doubtful if there has ever
been in Europe or America any definite or systematized knowledge of the
locality of origin or the period of Chinese rugs. Aside from the small
importance usually attached to them as art products by the Chinese
themselves, this dearth of specific knowledge has been due to the fact
that the rugs were not woven in Eastern China, but in the interior provinces,
and, even after a demand arose for them in the West, buyers were
well content to await arrivals in the Treaty Ports, rather than court the
perils of travel into the Chinese hinterland. It was believed that as soon
as the demand became known there would be great influx of desirable
fabrics to Peking. There was; but it lasted only for a little space, and
today in the Chinese capital a rug of any merit whatsoever commands a
price almost prohibitive. This has led to a great volume of manufacture
in Peking, both in new designs and in more or less creditable copies of the
old. But so violently has this commercial production been promoted that
the very multitude of modern Chinese rugs has begun to work injury to
the enterprise; although the texture of the new rugs is finer than that in
many of the old ones. In fact, Chinese rug weaving as a whole does not
show any impressively high measure of technical accomplishment.

TEXTURE OF CHINESE RUGS

The texture of Chinese floor coverings is usually far coarser than the
Persian, or even the Turkish, notwithstanding that they are woven in the
Persian knot, which lends itself to amazing fineness of detail. In addition
to this coarseness a very heavy weft or cross-thread is used, sometimes
four heavy strands after each transverse row of knots. This
results in a very flat “lie” of the pile. The difference between this and the
fine, almost perpendicular pile found in the rugs of Ispahan (so-called)
of Tabriz and of Kashan, is striking; but it doubtless expresses the general
attitude of the Chinese toward the rug.
They evidently regarded it merely as a medium
for the presentation of simple patterns
and broad masses of color, and the quickest
method of securing these was the best.

DESIGN AND TREATMENT

Chinese rug design and treatment are
plainly impressionistic, as contrasted with
the infinite detail that marks the high-school
weavings of Persia.

COVERING FOR A CHAIR SEAT AND
BACK

This fabric is in yellow and blue. The
sacred mountain is the chief feature of
the design

The Chinese weaver adapted the method
to his requirements, and some of the most
beautiful effects in the Chinese fabrics are
found in absurdly coarse specimens. On
the other hand, when he did undertake finer
accomplishments, he vindicated all the high
artistic traditions of his race. Perhaps the
most impressive illustration of the racial
skill and deftness is the cut work with
which, in the better rugs, many of the patterns
are outlined. This consists in the seemingly
simple device of cutting away half the
knot along the lines of a pattern; such, for
example, as a flower or vine, a wave or a bird.
The result is to leave the pattern clearly
defined and in actual relief, without the
interjection of another color. This cutting
takes the place of the color outline almost universally used in Persia.
In this, as in almost every phase of artistic accomplishment, the Chinese
individuality and conservatism are manifest.

When we consider Chinese history and note the multitude of race factors
that have gone into China-Arabs, Jews, Nestorians, Hindus, Armenians,
and Turks, the wonder is that the Chinese weaving art is not manifestly
and obtrusively composite; that is to say, that it does not show on
its surface these various elements. But, on the contrary, it has taken the
“busy” patterns of the races farther west, stripped them of their masses
of confusing detail, and imbued them with the dignity and indefinable
calm which seems to be the inevitable Chinese mark.

Anyone familiar with rugs can discern, in a certain school of Chinese
fabrics, the Persian characteristics as found in the rugs of Khorassan; but
always, and from whatever source derived, these patterns have been
touched with the purely Chinese character, laid in the Chinese color, and
so in the course of time have become thoroughly localized. China converted
the hard octagons of the Turkoman rugs into circular scrolls or
medallions, beautifying them meanwhile with some floral character manifestly
borrowed from the Persians—and yet
by no means Persian. There has been in
all the world probably no more perfect
example of racial individuality in art.

A COMPOSITE DESIGN

Of a rather late period. In the border are
found somewhat overloaded Mohammedan
characteristics

CHINESE INFLUENCE ON RUG
DESIGN

It should be said, however, that Chinese
influence has been equally effective outside
its own pale. In the thirteenth century,
Hulaku Khan, leading his Mongol hordes
in conquest, took Chinese artists and workmen
as far west as Bagdad. Traces of this
transportation may be found in a great
many Persian and Turkish rugs, particularly
the palace pieces made for three hundred
years after that time. The so-called
“cloud band” and the cotyledon symbol
(representing the life idea) may be seen in
many fine Persian rugs. The dragon, which
plays so large a part in Chinese ornament,
has also been imparted to other races. The
best illustration of this is the large Bagdad
carpet from the Yerkes Collection, now in
the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In eliminating the overactive quality
in Persian design, China made use of “background”
in a way which the most advanced
theorists in artistic composition must approve. The field of plain color
became paramount; but it was rarely used, in the best early periods, as
it is in the West, as a hard, defined area with central medallion and corner
spaces. Where this was done the softest color was used throughout, such
as a golden brown, relieved by dull blues and perhaps a deeper brown or
a touch of gold yellow. In by far the most cases the pattern is distributed
over the field sparsely instead of densely as in so many of the Persian rugs.
Almost the only exceptions to this rule are small, repetitious diaper patterns,
usually in mild coloring. Generally speaking, the patterns in Chinese
rugs are large in proportion to the fabric; but it will be noticed that each
has a more distinctive value. The natural effect of this would have been
excessive strength in general effect; but here again the Chinese art
intuition rose to the requirement. The difficulty was obviated by an
entire change of color scheme.

A RUG OF UNUSUAL QUALITY, TEXTURE AND COLOR

The strength of the patterns is well distributed

COLOR IN CHINESE RUGS

While the Chinese of early times were master color makers, a very
narrow schedule of colors has always served for the rugs, until the later
decadent periods; in fact, this holds true in all Chinese art. There is in
the entire kingdom of Chinese rug weaving no such jumble of unrelated
colors as we find in the Persians. I have had occasion heretofore to make
clear the Persian theory of color, that of neutralization by juxtaposition,
in which a score of naturally conflicting colors are thrown together with
great freedom, with the purpose that they shall neutralize one another.
The Chinese had a concept more nearly approaching our own. He dealt
in simple colors rather than in complex ones, and what neutralizations he
accomplished were done before the actual weaving or else effected by the
fading of the dyes after the rug was completed. In Chinese rugs art takes
precedence of workmanship, and as the art
declines, in the moderns, the texture seems
to improve.

AN OLD RUG IN GRAY AND SOFT
BROWN COLORS

Simple and effective. The lattice
ground of the border has been used
very intelligently

With this wide view of the Chinese habit
and tendency before us, it is well to consider
the all important matter of color. The range
of coloring is noticeably narrow and correspondingly
simple; though at first glance it
does not always seem to be so. To this fact
is doubtless due the restfulness which is the
great charm of Chinese rugs. There are, to
be sure, designs which are to the Western eye
hard and discordant; but it will be found
that most of these are in rugs of a religious
sort, where the patterns include the dragons,
Foo dogs, and other symbolic devices which
seem to us grotesque and even repellent. It
will be observed, however, when one has acquired
familiarity with the Chinese rugs, that
the adjustment
of color values
is most accurate,
always bearing
in mind that the
Chinese seem to
have discounted
in the oldest and
best periods of
artistic production the mellowing influence
of time.

A COHERENT AND WELL BALANCED
DESIGN

The colors are blue and white

Most noticeable in Chinese rug coloring
is the wonderful scope and quality of the
blues. The highest expression of Persian
skill in dyeing has always been found in
blue; but even in this art—which, by the
way, the Persians have now in a great measure
lost—they must yield place to the
Chinese. In the older rugs the Chinese blues
show a range, a depth, and a luminous quality
which are not surpassed in the world,
and even the best modern pieces now being
produced in Peking are in this respect superior
to their Persian contemporaries.

Second, certainly, to the blues in importance
come the yellows. While yellow has
been used freely in Persian rugs, and more
so in those of Kurdistan and Asia Minor, the fact of its royal and semi-religious
value in China has caused it to be employed in some of the
Chinese fabrics with a frankness not equaled elsewhere. Twenty years
ago, before popular taste in America had attained its present appreciative
attitude toward all Chinese art, the prevalence of yellow in strong
values and large areas in the rugs was one of the chief causes of American
dislike for them. It is unpleasant to admit this now, when old Chinese
rugs in yellow, and some not so old, are
sought with an avidity that disregards the
question of price.

IMPERIAL YELLOW

Since Chinese rugs have come into
demand we have heard a great deal of “imperial
yellow.” Almost any yellow is “imperial”
when a sale hangs in the balance.
But it should be unnecessary to say that
true imperial yellow is quite as rare in Chinese
rugs as are imperial persons among the
400,000,000 of Chinese population. Its actual
frequency is about equal to that of
“inscriptions from the Koran in the modern
rugs of Persia.” To describe it would tax
the skill of Lafcadio Hearn, who would not
have been so rash as to undertake it. Perhaps
the most descriptive thing one can
say is that it outyellows all the gold that
ever shone.

INHARMONIOUS DESIGN

It is too strong for a small fabric. The
sacred mountain and the Foo dogs are
combined badly with a border stripe
derived from India or Khorassan

The green schedule is very limited and
the employment of green even more uncommon
than in Moslem countries, where its
religious importance restricts its use. When
green does occur in Chinese fabrics, it has
usually an admixture of yellow which converts
it to olive, or else is a frank attempt
to reproduce the color of jade. The colorings
of old Chinese rugs, in the order of their
frequency, are about as follows:

There are some other eccentric colorings, but these are the chief. The
blue and white pieces are scarce now for the reason that they contribute
to the “cool effects,” the attainment of which has of late been one of the
chief aims of the highest practitioners in the art of decoration. The reds
and certain “mustardy” shades of yellow have perhaps been least liked
and linger longest on the shelf. Blue or yellow has proved a more attractive
color arrangement. The dark blue and light blue grounds have always
been very rare, and a green rug is an episode.

A TEMPLE FABRIC

When fastened around a pillar the dragon
is complete and appears twined spirally

Red appears in Chinese silks in clear tones. In the rugs it almost
always has a yellowish cast. There are many shades of salmon pink and
red, but very few pieces with pink of a cool character, such as the “shell”
shades, rose pink, or the famous Du Barry. All these appear in Persian
and Kurdish rugs, and to one knowing how
infinitely skilful Chinese dyers have been it
is at first hard to understand why the
schedules of this common and popular color
included chiefly the yellowish tints, from
pale apricot to a deep red which nevertheless
verged toward orange. The reason for it is
still difficult to discern: the method of obtaining
these shades, in a softness which
increases with age, is now clear.

If a Persian dyer wished to secure any
particular shade of color, he would mix
his dyes to that end, and the color, when
applied, would remain. The oldtime Chinese
dyer was more ingenious. He dyed the wool
first in a fast yellow. When this was dry
and thoroughly set it was dipped into a
rather strong red, more or less fugitive.
Upon long exposure to the air the red faded and
the yellow came through; enough of the red
remaining to leave the degree of warmth desired.
The delicacy of these colors increases
with age. In some old pieces, obviously of the
Ming period, the wool which was originally
red has come down to pale gold, with only
the faintest blush over it, and in the faded
color there is a quality which no accurate one-color
dying can give. The Chinese dyer evidently
counted upon the softening effect of
the years, a foresight which could be found
nowhere save among a race of collectors.

FEATURES OF CHINESE RUG PATTERNS

The simplicity
which distinguishes
Chinese
coloring may be
said equally to
distinguish the
design. This is
more true of the
old fabrics than
of those of later
origin. In fact,
one of the distinguishing
marks
of the old rugs is the use of very simple patterns and usually a narrow border,
consisting of some form of the fret or wave pattern which in architecture
is known as “Greek,” but which appears with the swastika (卐),
of which it is a clear development, in the primitive art of all races, and
which in China has been employed most freely from the earliest times.

A RUG CONSISTENT IN ITS STRICTLY FLORAL CHARACTER

Well balanced, and modelled after the Kien Lung designs, but probably made
later. The color effect is sprightly

Just when or at what stage of Chinese religious culture the dragon
came into Chinese art we probably do not know; but it is found in the
earliest rugs we have trace of. In these, however, it shares the prevailing
simplicity, is strictly conventional in character, usually laid in blue and
worked into the shape of a circular medallion, or sometimes, in conjunction
with the fret, into corner devices. These, however, seem to have
been appropriated from the Persian along with the central medallion.

MAT OF A VERY EARLY PERIOD

The purest of designs in gold and brown

As time and the art progressed
there crept into the design a greater
opulence, a higher degree of elaboration.
Something of the floral richness
of Persia was absorbed, and it
abides to this day; but everything
adopted was transformed, in color
and treatment, to fit into the Chinese
decorative scheme. Instead of a
profuse mass of floral material, one
flower was taken as a motive and
presented in repeating fashion, duly
emphasized, and with no multiplicity
of other floral factors to detract from
it. In almost every case the flower
had an ethical or religious meaning
which became the keynote of the rug.

In this connection it may be said that there is no art in the world in
which so great a part of the prevailing figures has a generally recognized
symbolic meaning.

CHINESE SYMBOLISM

Very comprehensive is this symbolism. It includes not alone a multitude
of things from the floral and animal kingdoms, but even certain utensils
had a meaning; social, ethical, or moral, if not religious. The bat,
the bird, the butterfly, the dragon, the kylin, the Foo dog, the leopard,
the elephant, the horse, the phœnix, the stork,—the list is altogether too
long to permit of any thorough tabulation. The old symbols of primitive
religion, found in Turanian rugs and dating back to the very morning of
mankind, do not seem to appear in the Chinese
weavings; but it is manifest that somewhere,
at some time, the Chinese symbols
and their attendant meanings were derived
directly from some imaginative form of nature
worship (witness the cotyledon or seed
germ, which was adopted by Persia from
China and appears so often in the high-school
Persian rugs of Sefavian times). The
meanings, once established, have been maintained
in popular understanding. Every intelligent
Chinaman today knows them as his
remote ancestors did. It is a part of the
great fund of popular information that bird,
bat, deer, and butterfly convey wishes for
long life and good fortune.

ONE OF THE OLDEST AND FINEST
EXAMPLES OF CHINESE RUGS

The dragons at the center and the corners
are in marvellous blue on a background
of pure gold. The “tiger”
marks are in brown

Chinese symbolism has developed some
eccentric and even egregious things; such, for
example, as the dragon and the kylin. Each
and every of such impossible creatures had
his sphere and his legend. Of the dragons,
there are several kinds,—one of the heavens,
one of the mountains, one of the sea. The
emperor’s dragon has five claws. So has
that of the first- and second-class princes.
The next two classes of the royal family may
display only a four-clawed one; while ordinary
mortals must be content with three.
A four-clawed serpent bespeaks a mandarin
or a prince of the fifth rank.

AN UNUSUAL SADDLE CLOTH

It has religious symbols in the center
on a yellow background. The border
shows Hindu influence. The coloring
is splendid

The kylin, a fearsome four-footed beast, means long life and good government.
The phœnix, in addition to his indestructible life, was reputed
to live high in the air, and to descend to earth only as the bearer of good
news. The catalogue is endless, and perhaps to the Occidental useless, unless
it be for the information of the collector or to divert the curious mind.

Many of the superstitions common in
Turkey and Persia, seem to prevail throughout
China. For example, I have found a
“cash” (perforated Chinese coin) sewed fast
to an old Chinese rug to bring good luck.
It should be noted that the “cash” is one of
the Buddhistic “symbols of happy augury.”
Few people in any part of the world will
fail to see the fitness of this. The Mohammedans
indulge this same practice, using
sometimes a gay bead or a scrap of cloth.

In weaving rugs the Chinese in earlier
times had one custom of which I have found
no trace in western Asia; namely, that of
weaving a rug in two, three, or four sections,
breaking an elaborate design without respect
for its continuity, and knitting the parts
together by the warp threads, evidently to
produce just the required size. This is most
prevalent in large temple rugs.

A word should be said concerning the assigning
of rugs to specific periods. There are
persons who will name a period for any Chinese
rug. I believe more of these are wrong
than right. There are some rugs which present
coloring or design of distinct period character,
and in general it is probable that the earliest
are the simplest. The poor old Ming dynasty
has had an awful burden to carry. Ability to
tell when any and every rug was made would imply an intimate and detailed
familiarity with the civil and artistic history of China for unnumbered
years, and the person who professes such knowledge should be ready
to give a reason for the faith that is in him. Not too much is known
about Chinese rugs. They offer an ideal field for the ambitious student,
and when he has mastered it thoroughly he will know much besides rugs.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

There is a scarcity of literature dealing with Chinese rugs. A
knowledge of Chinese rugs is based on a knowledge of rugs in the
general Asiatic sense, and on Chinese art in all its developments.

THE OPEN LETTER

A RUG OF EARLY DESIGN

It is of heavy quality, dignified, and harmonious,
in brown and gray colors. The device in the center is a symbol standing
for long life

It is a curious fact that, while China is
the oldest nation that we know, and the
history of her civilization stretches back
to the early morning of time, there are
many interesting Chinese things with
which we have only in recent years become
familiar. The Chinese rug is a case
in point. How long the Chinese have
been making fine rugs no one can tell. It
is safe, however, to say that, like their
other arts, Chinese rugmaking is of very
great antiquity.

And yet, as Mr. Mumford points out,
the Chinese rug has come into vogue in
the west only within the past fifteen or
twenty years. It is true the vogue was
anticipated by a few collectors in England
and America, but they can be numbered
on the fingers of one hand. Mr. H. O.
Havemeyer, some twenty-five years ago,
took a fancy to Chinese rugs and made
quite a collection of them. They had no
special market value then, for they were
not sought after. Mr. Havemeyer collected
them because he was attracted to
them as unusual products of the loom,
and then because, he found them to be
an interesting and profitable subject of
study. His collection is no doubt in the
possession of his family today, and if a
present day value were set upon those
rugs they would probably show an appreciation
over their original prices of fully
a thousand per cent, if not more.

Mr. Mumford calls attention to the fact
that the Chinese rug was made popular
in this country by the late Mr. Stanford
White. Mr. White was a very strong and
original figure in art. He did not look to
others for suggestions. He led the way
and others followed. So when he picked
out a number of old Chinese rugs that he
found in a New York shop and placed
them in Mr. William C. Whitney’s house,
connoisseurs and collectors took notice
and very soon the Chinese rug became the
vogue. All that were to be had in America
were soon bought up and the prices
rose sensationally. Some time ago a New
York collector bought a Chinese rug for
$30. This was in the days before the vogue.
Two years later he found a mate to this rug
in the same shop, ordered it without hesitation—and
it was delivered to him with
a bill for $3,600. This shows the increase
of value that can be effected by a quick
growth in demand. And today few genuine
old Chinese rugs can
be had at any price.

W. D. Moffat
Editor

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