Identifier: orientalrugsanti1922hawl (find matches)
Title: Oriental rugs, antique and modern
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Hawley, W. A. (Walter Augustus), 1863-1920
Subjects: Rugs, Oriental
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead
Contributing Library: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library

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PLATE IX —SAMARKAND RUG Although this rug is an excellent example of that class generallyknown as Samarkands, it was bought in Yarkand. Undoubtedly itwas woven in some part of Turkestan that lies between these two cities;yet with the exception of the eight-pointed stars at the centre of the upperand lower medallions the pattern is characteristic of Chinese ornamen-tation. Surrounding the central medallion, on a ground of rich deepblue, are six conventionalised butterflies, and near them are four clustersof pomegranates. At each end of the field are designs that suggest thetree of life, which under different forms appears so persistently in thewoven fabrics of the East. The delicate drawing of these motives isaccentuated by the formal character of the four corners and by the broadborder of well-known stripes. It is a piece in which beauty of line andcolour is combined with unsolved symbolism. Loaned by Mr. Hulett C. Merritt toq »& wtoHfoWt two* W^ „j. y w>\ & scampi to5
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7 JTjT ^autsuAHtWtM&i&bSttlSS. MM ■«•■ CENTRAL ASIATIC RUGS 241 knots, are noticeable at the back, whereas in other Turkoman rugsthe weft is hardly perceptible. Many of the old pieces were very handsome, as is shown by thefollowing description of an antique goats hair carpet from Khivaby Dr. Birdwood.* The ground is of madder red, decorated withleaves and scrolls and lozenge-shaped forms in red, white, and orange,each lozenge being denned by a deep line of indigo blue. The endsterminate in a fringe. Professor Vambery says that these rich lus-trous carpets are made entirely by the nomad women about Khiva,the head worker tracing out the design in the desert sand and handingout to her companions the dyed materials of different colours asrequired in the progress of weaving. Type Characteristics. Colours, principally dark red, with minorquantities of blue and ivory. Knot, Ghiordes or Sehna. Knots toinch horizontally six to ten; perpendicularly, eight to fourteen. Therows of

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