HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 
i g i o 
217 
The Soumak weave is a flat stitch with loose 
ends on the back. It resembles the Dag¬ 
hestan in pattern 
A copy of a silk mosque rug. The larger 
Oriental rugs were made only for the 
palaces and mosques 
Another Soumak pattern in which the char¬ 
acteristic elongated octagons, lozenge and 
and other geometrical figures are used 
principally from Germany, although some are secured in Eng¬ 
land and America. It is interesting to know that a first-class 
rug-weaving mill will use over twenty-five hundred distinct 
shades of color, all of which have to be subjected to rigid tests 
for permanency. The refinement of the coloring used in 
American-made rugs is a thing that has come only after much 
experimenting and after the production of many carpets and 
rugs that have been anything but satisfactory in this respect. 
Just how this long-striven-for result has been achieved see .us to 
be a trade secret that must be guarded zealously. It is really 
surprising to compare an American-made rug of the Bokhara 
type, with its dull reds and blues in geometrical patterns, with an 
original from the Orient. There is in the American product 
precisely the same colors and the same lustrous long wool. It 
has been often said that you can tell an Oriental at once from 
the fact that the design shows clearly through on the back. If 
that is the case many of the American-made rugs will be mis¬ 
taken for Orientals for they show this same characteristic feature. 
It is not a difficult matter for American ingenuity to dupli¬ 
cate even the more intricate designs of the Eastern rug weavers. 
The pattern of some particularly fine example of a type is copied 
on an enlarged scale on cross-section paper in color. The match¬ 
ing of the proper wools is not particularly difficult after that, 
with the great number of tints now available. 
The cost of these domestic rugs is, of course, far less than 
the original Oriental, on which a duty of sixty per cent, has to 
be paid in importation. The cost is, as might be expected, how¬ 
ever, higher than the common run of domestic rugs. That is. 
a 9 x 12 size costs about $55, with other sizes in proportion, the 
cost of rugs being estimated at a fixed rate per square foot. 
A detail of an original Tabriz which is 
interesting to compare with the Tabriz 
reproduction in the adjoining illustration 
A typical Tabriz has a field of old ivory 
with an outer band of Indian red enclos¬ 
ing a contrasting medallion 
The Kirman shows a wide variety of design. 
Floral forms, and especially the cypress 
tree or vine, prevail 
