Oriental Rugs for the Chamber 
By RICHARD MORTON 
F or an elaborate Louis XV. or Louis XVI. 
chamber, Kerman florals are undoubtedly 
the most appropriate. 1 he delicate colorings 
are in exact harmony with the colorings of the 
French eighteenth century, and the designs are 
those from which many French fabric designs were 
derived. 
But for a Colonial or Georgian fchamher, the 
connoisseur will naturally turn first to the small rugs 
of the Caucasus. The patterns are rectilinear and 
range from the extreme simplicity of some Kazaks to 
the geometrical intricacy of many Daghestans. The 
colorings range from deep rich shades that melt 
softly together, to white, hard tints that set forth 
hard lines and angles. 
The rugs of softer outline and richer color should 
be selected for Colonial and Georgian rooms of the 
earlier or Chippendale type, when furniture was in 
carved and pierced dark mahogany, and woodwork 
and plaster still retained the hold relief and elaborate 
architectural details of the Renaissance. In the 
latter half of the eighteenth century. Classicism 
replaced Renaissance; large curves and heavy con¬ 
struction in furniture gave place to straight lines and 
delicate frames; carving, to inlay and painting; dark 
reds and greens, to roses and pinks and elusive in¬ 
termediate or closely adjacent and faintly contrasting 
tones. So that in Classic Colonial or Georgian 
chambers, Caucasian rugs in the lighter tones lie 
most quietly. 
This phrase, “ lie quietly, ” expresses what all rugs 
should do. If a rug seems to mount up from the 
floor, because of too great color contrast with the 
flooring, or of too little contrast with the rest of the 
room, it is badly placed. 
Don’t try to delude yourself wdth the idea that any 
Oriental will fit any Occidental interior. It is true 
that just as the period styles of the West overlap and 
share characteristics, so many rugs from the East 
respond to many diff erent types of decorative environ¬ 
ment. But it is equally true that a dark green floor 
covering in a Louis XV. interior is an abomination; 
and that in a mission room a Tabriz in light tints 
screeches like a siren whistle. 
Of course, it is easier to cover floors appropriately 
with Oriental than with domestic rugs. The domes¬ 
tic rugs in patterns that imitate the Oriental have had 
most of what is good in the colorings eliminated in 
the process of interpretation on machine looms. 
Hatchings and irregularities that stamp the original 
with individuality vanish beneath the unsympathetic 
hand of the Philadelphia adapter. Most of the do¬ 
mestic rug patterns copied or modified from the 
French or English do not deserve even unfavorable 
comment. 
The domestic rugs lack repose. They cannot “lie 
quietly” on the floor because they are not at peace 
with themselves. In walking over them it is neces¬ 
sary to surmount ridges of red that are separated by 
valleys of green, or to tread gingerly on kaleidoscopic 
hillocks. 
Almost all Oriental rugs are restful. No matter 
how elaborate the detail, the gradations and con¬ 
trasts of color are cunningly calculated to show it 
distinctly wdthout lifting any part unduly. 
The principles that have been observed in their 
composition ought to be followed in the composition 
of the interior as a whole. Remember that effects of 
distance contrasting with nearness, and of restless 
movement, are inevitable when harshly unlike colors 
are juxtaposed. Remember that as colors whiten 
and go towards blue they achieve distance and deli¬ 
cacy but lose mass. Do not give an ethereal 
appearance to the floor by using a rug in delicate 
tints beneath a dark ceiling and walls. 
Only when the general color scheme of a room is 
light may the rug be light. 
Among Oriental rugs that fit Colonial and Geor¬ 
gian chambers are those from Eastern Turkey and 
adjacent Persia; Mosuls, Sehnas, Serebends, etc. 
Many of the Mosuls—like some of the rugs woven by 
the Turkomans east of the Caspian—are very like 
the Caucasians in pattern, and not remote from them 
in manner of coloring. The frequent repeat of Sehna 
and Serebend patterns renders them undesirable for 
environments where decorative motifs are large and 
bold, and spaces are grand. But for simple cham¬ 
bers nothing could be better. 
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