132 ANNUAL KEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1910. 



an emblem of longevity, which is surrounded by bats typifying " Fe- 

 licity ; " the other consists of four birds — beak converging to beak ; 

 below this is part of a border that contains dragon forms like the one 

 given here. Such ornaments existed in China long before other 

 people knew them or tried to imitate them in any such way as that 

 indicated by the sketches below them, which are of details in cut-pile 

 and other rugs from Turkestan, Persia, and Kurdish districts. None 

 of the rugs is of great age, still the ornament on them represents many 

 conventions in rendering dragons, birds, flowers, human and animal 

 forms, the archetypes of which were more realistic in appearance and 

 better drawn. The part of a rug border to the left, in the lower set 

 of details, has a conglomeration of dragon and bird forms ; the bird 

 immediately below is from another part of the same border; next to 

 it is a bit of a carnation border — a rude version, probably of a Per- 

 sian fourteenth century border; next to it is a device — perhaps a 

 double-headed eagle, although its counterpart in other rugs looks 

 more like a conventional fruit or flower. The childishly drawn man 

 and horse, with many other similar creatures, frequently occur in 

 flat and raised surface Caucasian ami Kurdish rugs; and so does the 

 curious device to the right, which, with several others, was sent me by 

 a friend. The half hexagon panel with a dragon derivative is from 

 a Persian cut-pile rug which has its weaver's name on it in Persian 

 characters. 



It seems to me to be within the bounds of reasonable supposition 

 that some of these Asiatic rug ornaments are as old as the first and 

 second century A. D., though they may have been scarcely known 

 beyond Syria and Asia Minor. The same stjde of rug ornaments 

 has continued to the present day, and I suggest that the next few 

 slides may be representative of varieties of rug designs which have 

 been used during the last 2,000 years perhaps. 



The first (pi. 2, fig. 2) is from two cut-pile rugs of Chinese design 

 and manufacture — stout white, blue, and gray-black wools have 

 been used. The plan of design is a field with central circular device 

 or disk and corner devices within the inclosing border. Such circular 

 panel or disk (solar or lunar) placed at the center of the field appears 

 to be a particular feature in Chinese rug design. 



The next slide is from two rugs, one made in Assam and the other 

 at Patna. Both designs show Chinese influence. The Assam rug 

 (pi. 3, fig. 1) is covered with a swastika key pattern. The scheme 

 of the Patna rug (pi. 3, fig. 2) is Chinese with its central disk and 

 corner pieces, but the ornament within them as well as in the border 

 is Assyrian in a style more than 2,500 years old. 



The next slide gives a design of fuller ornament. The disk or cir- 

 cular device at the center is surrounded with repeated Chinese em- 

 blems ; the corners have Chinese key pattern ; the bold forms in the 



