Oriental Rugs
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ORI ENTAL RUGS By ARTHUR URBANE " I LLE " " LL A . U . I E" CO . , I N C . " ealers in Orient al Rugs 5 PARK STREET B OSTON H OW TO SELECT ORIENTAL RUGS AN" purchasers of oriental rugs are un aware t hat the methods of manufacture M in the East have changed greatly in the t las thirty years , and that the change has an important bearin upon the character , u ff condition , and quality of t e r gs now o ered for B 1875 1890 sale . etween and it was a compar at ively easy matter to purchase a good rug for the price Which many dealers ask for a poor one - N ff . ot to day all the rugs o ered for sale were good , n even then , but the majority of them were ho est , ch ea art l individual , and p , p y because most of them were home rugs that is , rugs made in East . f ern homes , for use in the East Rugs o fered for - sale to day are , in most cases , not home pro - ducts , made for Eastern use , but hand woven faet o ry products made to sell in the West and to sell quickly . Some of them are very good , some ordinary , some very bad . It is this condition Which makes it important to the purchaser of ru s who desires to buy i h t elligent ly that he shou (1 learn how to examine a r rug and estimate its value . The u o se of this book is to present some facts w iefi will help lovers of good rugs to select them discrimi nat inglv . The fi rst question Which the rug buyer sh o uid ? ask himself is , What is the material of the rug If it is wool , is it all wool , or is there jute and other i fi ber t . , cotton , hair , or silk used with The second question concerns the quality or grade of the material , and the third question its disposition h and relative stren t . The bearing 0 the fi rst question lies in the fact that jute and some other fi bers which may be m ixed with wool are brittle and rot , and that jute and cotton are cheap materials . "ute breaks o ff Page F i ve and sweeps out When the rugs are cleaned , and rots wet x When , thereby loosening the te ture of the whole rug , to its great detriment . Cotton warp and weft , though cheaper than wool , is harder and f sti fer than a wool foundation , and rugs Which con tain it ordinarily lie better . Cotton occurring in s the pile , as it often does in certain rugs in part of the design in Ghiordes rugs , for example wears well and by remaining white and sharp , gives snap and freshness even after the rug has attained great age . Silk and hair in the pile gives pleasing color and variety . t The second question , concerning the quali y of material , is also important . Rug material varies in cost all the way from two cents to thirty -fi ve cents a pound , and in character from the softest and most tender to the strongest and most rigid . The best is both strong and rigid . Pile material that packs down is lifeless and unattractive . It is important that a purchaser should know Whether he is paying for the pick of the fleece or for What is essentially waste product . n The third question , co cerning the disposition ex and relative strength of the material , involves amination of the weight of warp , weft , and pile . The warp should be heaviest , strongest , and thick x est , the pile ne t , and the weft lightest , though not . war too light If the is lighter than the ile , and i le hreak the is com act , t e warp is likely to in han ling . If t e warp is light , and the weaving loose , the rug will pucker and creep on the floor t and no amoun of stretching will keep it in shape . The weft should be stron enou h to hold the fab ric together , despite roug hand ing . If the ile is l be ru W1 1 ighter or shorter than it should , the not give good service . In a few years it Wi be worn to the warp and worthless . P age Si x Certain other inquiries are h ardl less important Some ot her t han the three questions which have just been how n . amed as fundamental One is , well is the material woven ? The essential matter here is not only the number of knots to the square inch fi neness that is , the of the weaving but also the tightness of the individual knots . As most modern ru s oriental , especially in carpet sizes , are made fi ve i ff im ort ant in three to d erent grades , it is very t o the: buyer whether he is considering the Eest or A fi ft wo the poorest . margin of y to t hundred or more dollars betweenthe quality represented and the quality offered is not uncommon . It is ve impor t ant to the buyer that the knots be fi rmly tie Knots poorly tied pull out easily at the back and loosen fi i n . F n service inally , the weaving should be so i shed at the ends that the last rows of knots will not work away . Another matter for the buyer to consider is the Condit ion condition of the material and the weavin Is it worn ? Is it motheaten ? Is it dry an dead ? Is it cut ? Is it pieced ? Is it crooked ? Is it loose ? If any of these conditions exist the rug has lost n value . Old rugs that are worn to the foundatio in spots are much less desirable for service than l those With pi e of fair depth that is worn evenly . m othh oles if ‘ The repair of , they are numerous , is e s A - ex n w e and unsatisfactory . few bale hook ho s e need give no concern . As rugs are handled they are inevitable . Rugs that are dry and rotten from age and there are such are worthless . They usually break in seams along the line of the war in other words , the weft threads , Which are li fi r st . the ghtest threads in the rug , give way Rugs that have been cut to eliminate worn sec tions or to fi t rooms have been weakened . E u s that have been pieced are ordinaril spoiled in esign as well as weakened . These eep and serious defects Page Seven li ht of a rug are easily detected by holding it to the , i e and by examining carefully the bac k . Groo d weaving shows carelessness on the part of the . a earances maker It detracts from p and does not , . oseness re therefore , enhance value of weave , sult ing from long service and innumerable beatings and washings , is a condition of dissolution . The prospective urchaser will do well to remember althou that as is commonly said , a rug may Wit improve age , meaning in appearance , it never grows fi rmer and stronger . There is also the question of the kind of dye . Three kinds are used in oriental rugs vegetable . dye , animal dye , and modern aniline dye . They vary in cost from sixty cents to ten dollars a pound . It is important to the purchaser , therefore , to know f t wo whether he is buying good dye or poor . O Kazak rugs belonging to the writer , absolutely inex similar in design , size , and intent , and to the erienced ru p buyer apparently of similar value , one 1s worth at east ten t l mes as much as the other sim ly because of the difference in dye . fi nal u Treat ment he q estion before the rug buyer is whether the dye has been treated in other words , whether “ ” ” ru the has been doctored , pickled , washed , o M or b fied . uch has been written concerning treatment processes . Reduced to its simplest terms , treatment means the application of x chloride of lime , pero ide of hydrogen , or oxalic and sulphuric acid , either in a bath or with a brush . The purpose of this treatment is , by reducing the harsh colors of a new fabric , to obtain the har mony of color characteristic of age . The results may be satisfactory if the object is attained without detriment to the durability of the fabric . They r f a e very unsatisfactory i the rug is injured . The practitioners of treatment maintain that t h their processes simply pu a fi nis on the rug . Page Ei ght L overs of antique rugs , wedded to the old dyes and o ld i methods , mainta n , on the other hand , that the treatment processes are a fraud . Whether rocesses these are to be a proved or not , they are ro a l e b y here to stay . T y will be practised as Fong as the vast majority of ru buyers demand old c olor effects in new rugs . A fiarge portion of the o riental ru s on the market to -day are acid t . be reated any of them are sold as anti ues , cause genuine antique rugs are exceeding y scarce a nd very costly . Purchasers need not hesitate to buy treated ru s res on , if they have a proper guarantee from a p sib e source that the rugs have not been injured that is , that they ill ear out through ser ice nd w w v ” a not disintegrate as a result of the treatment .