144 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1910. 



been noted in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for similar 

 shuttle- woven woolen rugs, of one of which I have a slide. 



The style of the broche ornament is virtually the same as that of 

 the Perugia linens. In the specimen now before us we have a field 

 broken by garlands into repeated compartments, in which are, respec- 

 tively, fountains, lions, horses, or perhaps unicorns, lambs of God 

 bearing the cross and a flag, double-tailed mermaids with mirrors in 

 their hands, and double-headed eagles, of a seventeenth century type, 

 though almost all of them are emblems with traditions behind them, 

 that, in some cases, spring from Gnostic sources of more than a thou- 

 sand years earlier. Emblematical ornament, however, is far too big 

 a subject to discuss now. The border of the carpet is a woven imita- 

 tion of Italian lace points or Vandykes of the late sixteenth century. 



The last slide is from two pile rugs made at Merton from designs 

 by the late William Morris. In both of them we trace his regard for 

 Oriental symmetrical arrangement and flatness in treating orna- 

 mental devices. 



In conclusion I must mention my indebtedness to important publi- 

 cations, amongst which are the late Dr. Bushell's handbook on Chi- 

 nese Art, Mr. Martin's admirable work on Oriental Carpets, and 

 the great Viennese publications also on Oriental Carpets. This 

 latter work contains illustrations of a hundred carpets or rugs, each 

 of which Dr. Alois Reigl has described in detail with unsparing care. 



I do not think that either of these two last-named authorities, or 

 even Dr. Bode, of Berlin, and others, who have a profounder erudi- 

 tion than I can pretend to, have paid enough consideration to the 

 enlivening effect which Chinese ornamental design must surely have 

 had for the last 2,000 years at least upon that of other nations west 

 of China, and especially in regard to its share in the invention of 

 Mohammedan ornament. In offering a few hints upon that matter I 

 hope that I have not made too great a call upon your attention. 

 Mohammedan ornament, whether to the Sunnite or Shi-ite taste, plays 

 a very important part in carpet ornamentation. The more it can 

 be investigated and appreciated the less likely are we to manufacture 

 carpets with quasi Oriental patterns that are at times really ludicrous 

 in their simple-minded imitations of distorted devices. 



It is extraordinary what modern machinery can do in producing 

 carpets of any sort of design. Certainly the daintiest that I have seen 

 recently were manufactured at Glasgow and are reproductions of 

 some of the finest and most intricately patterned Persian rugs. 



Messrs. Maple and Messrs. TVarings have kindly lent the specimens 

 of English machine-made rugs, as well as interesting portions of 

 handmade carpets, not only from England, but from other European 

 countries as well. 



