120 
House df Garden 
*'''‘^e Barton — 
a Berkey & Gay Suite 
for the Dining Room 
B uilt of beautifully figured mahogany 
with bands of fiddleback, designed in 
apure Heppelwhitemanner,“The Barton” 
possesses that aristocratic reserve so loved 
by the old masters. Quiet and elegant, 
simple and rich, dignified and yet hospi¬ 
tably inviting — “The Barton” in your 
dining room will bespeak your good taste 
to all who see it. 
Its chaste lines and fine proportions, the 
graceful curve of the sideboard, blend with 
the beauty of the mahogany to give an air 
of unmistakable distinction. Spacious pro¬ 
vision for linens, silver, and china adds 
the charm of unusual convenience to that 
of beauty. 
For three generations, the ideal of Hep¬ 
pelwhite—to make the useful beautiful— 
has guided Berkey & Gay craftsmen. 
Naturally, their productions, even as his, 
have a genuineness, a lasting worth, that 
makes them treasured. 
Yet, they are not expensive. Any home 
of refinement can afford “The Barton.” 
The following uniform prices are as low as 
true economy will permit you to pay. To 
them your Berkey & Gay merchant adds 
freight charges. 
This shop-mark is inset in 
every Berkey & Gay pro¬ 
duction. It is the custom¬ 
er’s protection when buy¬ 
ing and hisprideever after 
Sideboard ... $125 
China Cabinet . . $80 
Dining Table . . . $95 
Serving Table . $45 
Armchair . . . $30 
Chair.$24 
The interest you will wish your dining 
room to hold through the long winter 
months just ahead, makes “The Barton” 
doubly attractive at this time. Brochure 
describing this suite, together with the 
name of your nearest Berkey & Gay 
Netv York Wholesale merchant, sent on request. Write for it. 
Showroom: 
115 West 40 th Street 
iAdmittance by letter from BeRKEY & GaY FuRNITURE COMPANY 
your merchant 0 ? decorator) 444 MONROE AVENUE, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 
Berkey & Gay 
FURNITURE 
KHILIM RUGS AND THEIR QUALITIES 
{Continued frotn page 70 ) 
threads—a small arrangement of beads, 
a knot of wool, or a lock of the lady’s own 
hair. 
Apart from the Kis-Khilims there are 
at least five variations more or less clearly 
defined: Sehnas, Kurdish, Karamanian, 
Shirvans, and Mervs. Of these the Sehna 
Khilims are in every respect the finest. 
Woven from the best materials they are 
remarkably fine in texture; the colors are 
delicate, the patterns small and rather 
complicated, and are finished with a sur¬ 
rounding border. Both pattern and color 
follow almost exactly the piled Sehna 
rugs, and this with the complete border— 
which is rare among Khilims—is typical 
of the Sehnas. The warp is of linen or 
cotton, and the weft is of wool with so 
many as fifty threads to an inch crossing 
the warp. The fabric is indeed more like 
tapestry than a carpet, and quite unsuited 
for hard wear. As a rule they are small in 
size, iyi' X or Spi' by 7 '; these are the 
standard proportions which the Sehnas 
keep to pretty strictly. The ancient 
Oriental sjanbol known as Herati often 
appears in the field. Herati are well- 
known; they are embodied in some form 
or another in the majority of Eastern car¬ 
pets—a rosette encircled by two fish-like 
forms roughly describes the shape. The 
design originated in the old city of Herat, 
famed for its splendor in the reign of 
Sultan Husein Baikara, but a heap of 
ruins today. Few old Sehna Khilims are 
to be found now; one over a century old 
would be a rare prize for the collector. 
KURDISH AND KARAMANIAN KHILIMS 
Kurdish and Karamanian Khilims are 
much alike. Both are generally woven in 
two pieces and stitched together down the 
center with a fine disregard of “matching” 
the pattern. Large diamond-shaped fig¬ 
ures enclosing an arrangement of small 
devices are common—almost tjqiical—as 
a pattern, but horizontal stripes in the 
manner of “Bagdad portieres” are also 
used. Kurdish Khilims are well made, 
and finer in the weaving than the Kara- 
manians, which are somewhat coarse, 
with loose ends left hanging at the back. 
These come from Karan in Southern 
Asia, whence at one time such quantities 
were exported to the Western markets 
that the word “Karamani” came to be 
the term by which Khilims were all desig¬ 
nated. Kurdish and Karamanian Khilims 
are not garish in color, the blues, yellows, 
and greens are dark in tone, the red is a 
subdued crimson, with black and white 
cleverly introduced. Like the Sehnas, 
the old Kurdish and Karamanian Khi¬ 
lims have lately become rare. 
At the present time there is probably a 
larger proportion of Shirvans sold in 
England than any other variety of Khi- 
lim. Shirvan Khilims are woven all in 
one piece, of an excellent wool yarn. The 
typical pattern consists of a series of 
stripes or bands which run across the 
whole width of the rug from edge to edge. 
The stripes are from 8" to 12 " wide, with 
narrow stripes between. Hexagons en¬ 
closing little geometric figures are used 
frecjuently to decorate the wide stripes; 
the narrow stripes are sometimes plain, 
of a contrasting color—red, blue, or green; 
sometimes ornamented with an undulat¬ 
ing line, or else a raised cord of variegated 
hues. The colors are somewhat emphatic; 
reds, yellows, blues, greens, and ivories 
in close juxtaposition. The texture in¬ 
clines to coarseness, and the open spaces 
are large. The Shirvans are a heavy make 
of rugs; the Oriental rug-merchants used 
to sell them by weight. 
The Merv Khilimsare betteradapted for 
practical uses than some of the other vari¬ 
eties, since they are woven without the 
characteristic open spaces and accord¬ 
ingly are stronger. Diagonal divisions 
mark the colors, and the design falls in 
diamond shapes—something in the man¬ 
ner of Kurdish Khilims—arranged on a 
ground of horizontal lines. Like the 
Shirvans, the Mervs often are finished 
with a border in which the “latch-hook” 
figure predominates. These rugs are 
woven by the Turkomans who inhabit the 
desert round the old citadel of Merv, and 
the colors are those few rich and quiet 
tones by which the Turkoman fabrics are 
distinguished. 
KHILIM ADV.ANTAGES 
There can be no question about the 
beauty and fascination of Khilims; they 
enter extraordinarilj^ well in the scheme of 
modern decoration, and they have the 
merit of costing comparatively little, for 
an Eastern rug. But in order to make the 
most and the best of Khilims, it is neces¬ 
sary to understand them and their limi¬ 
tations. First it must be recognized that 
the fabric is less durable than that of the 
pile rugs; these have a nap more or less 
deep and thick to protect the warp and 
weft threads which in the Khilim come 
into direct contact with foot-wear. No 
Oriental rug should ever in any circum¬ 
stances be shaken, or hung on a line and 
beaten, least of all the heavy Khilim with 
its open spaces and insertion-like qual¬ 
ity. As a floor covering, therefore, it 
needs careful cleaning and careful placing. 
Laid on the bare floor Khilims are rarely 
satisfactory; although heavy they are not 
thick, rigid, and firm, like a pile rug, but 
flexible and inclined to wrinkle and slip 
under a hasty footstep, or to tear when 
furniture is carelessly moved. Plain felt or 
drugget makes a perfect foundation for 
the Khilim, or it may be laid over a car¬ 
pet. In .America a Khilim rarely occupies 
the floor at all: in England, too, it is 
often regarded as a tapestry, and used to 
cover a divan, or hung as a portiere. 
Those that are woven in two sections, 
such as the Kurdish, make beautiful cur¬ 
tains when they have been taken apart 
and hung with care and judgment. Sehna 
Khilims are fine and flexible enough for 
table covers, or they can be used panel- 
wise to give interest and life to a dull wall. 
Some of the large Khilims make a splendid 
“tapestry” for a spacious haU or studio; 
but in such a case they must be mouhted 
and stretched on a light wooden frame¬ 
work. Merely nailed up they are certain 
to sag and the fabric will be damaged— 
almost irreparably. Once the Khilim 
has been badly damaged or worn too far, 
it is no easy matter to have it satisfac¬ 
torily restored. 
It is interesting to note that these rugs 
are also made in Eastern Galicia, where 
the industrj^ may have been introduced by 
Turkish prisoners or the Turkish wives 
brought back by Polish raiders. 
