206 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
December, 1909 
The Sarebend has a fairly smooth, firm back. This one, 5 ft. 2 in. 
by 3 ft. 2 in., would sell for about $25 
of small cones, the stems of alternate rows facing alternate ways. 
The cones are commonly in blue or red, on red or blue or ivory 
ground. The borders are frequently very elaborate and inter¬ 
esting. 
Sarouk rugs, also woven in Western Persia, are noteworthy for 
their quaint medallion effects, with Kerman florals freely intro¬ 
duced. The colorings are delicate and the weave admirable. 
Tabriz — the ancient Tauris — is an important city in North¬ 
western Persia—is famous as a center of rug weaving and of the 
rug trade, and also because it is on the main caravan route that 
connects Central and Western Persia with Turkey. Tabriz rugs 
are masterpieces of the weaver’s art and are made of the finest 
wool. But in response to European and American demand many 
of the designs are losing their true Oriental individuality. T he 
colorings are very light and delicate and large center medallions 
are common in the pattern—often on an ivory field. 
Bokhara, one of the most remote countries in the world, 700 
miles east of the Caspian Sea, but on a Russian railway, was 
assimilated by Russia in 1868 and is three times as large as the 
State of New York, with less than half the population. Bokhara 
rugs abound in octagon- and diamond-shaped figures, in blue and 
white on rich red grounds. The long gray wool fringes and wide 
selvages—usually at both ends of the rug, and frequently figured 
in tapestry weave or embroidered — are most interesting and 
absolutely prevent Bokhara rugs from fraying. Still the colors 
are strong, and we would not particularly recommend Bokhara 
rugs for the decoration of a boudoir. 
The Cashmere rug may readily be distinguished by the very shaggy back.' 
This one is 5 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. n in. and costs $25 
Belouche, the French adjective for Beluchistan, is used to 
designate rugs woven in that country and in that part of Persia 
adjacent to it. Belouches are beautifully fringed and selvaged 
like Bokharas, but come in softer colors, often with interesting 
tones of buff and camel’s hair. While they are not masterpieces 
either of weaving or design, they represent good values, at their 
prevailing low prices, or any of the other small Orientals. One of 
the Belouches here illustrated, 4 ft. 11 in. x 2 ft. 7 in., retails 
for $10. 
About the weave of Oriental rugs there is no mystery, nor 
does process of weaving require long individual experience or 
great individual skill. But it does require expert direction and, 
above all, cheap labor. The women who weave rugs in Sultanabad, 
in Western Persia, are paid only five cents a day, a wage cost of 
$20 for a 10 x 12 ft. rug of average fineness. 
Cashmeres have no pile, and in weave are diametrically 
different from other rugs. They start with a simple warp of 
longitudinal threads like the rest, but the weaver, instead of 
inserting a row of cut knots that he bends with one or more weft 
threads, simply twists his threads over and under warp threads 
so that each twist hides two. Cashmere rugs are very durable and 
have a shaggy back, be¬ 
cause of the loose threads 
left where colors end. 
They are woven in the 
province of Shirvan in the 
Russian Caucasus, and 
probably get their name 
from the resemblance of 
their backs to those of 
Cashmere shawls. Light 
blue is a dominant color, 
with light red and cream 
or white to form the 
pattern. 
Kelims aregoing'upin 
price every year — those 
woven in Turkey and the 
Caucasus as well as those 
woven in Persia. In 
weave Kelims are primi¬ 
tive tapestries, like Mexi¬ 
can serapes and Navajo 
rugs, but the wool is 
harder, the weave finer, 
and the designs a thous¬ 
and times more inter¬ 
esting. Where colors meet parallel with the warp, Kelims show 
an open slit (like Gobelin and Flemish tapestries) before they 
go to the rentraiteuse to be sewed up—but in the Kelim illustrated 
wide slits have been avoided by having the colors meet diagon¬ 
ally. Kelims are too thin for use as rugs except in summer, 
but for couch and table-covers, and as portieres they are admir¬ 
able. Kelims show a few loose yarn-ends on the back, but 
fewer than Cashmeres and still fewer than tapestries of fine 
weave. 
Rug salesmen consider it extraordinary—but 1 do not — that 
so many persons seem unable to tell an Oriental rug from a 
domestic one in Oriental design. Not that the resemblance is 
close, but at first sight the imitation rugs seem to possess many 
qualities of the originals. But if you turn the Oriental over and 
trace the mosaic of pattern clearly outline in color on the back, 
and then notice that the design of a Wilton, an Axminster, or a 
Brussels hardly shows on the back of it at all, orif you look at the 
fringe and notice that most of the domestic rugs — except rag 
rugs — are fringeless, or have mere applied fringes, then you will 
have in mind the more obvious distinctions. 
