RUGS AND CARPETS. The term "carpet" is usually understood to mean a textile floor-covering and it is in this sense that the word is used here. The best fabric yet devised for use under foot is one in which a heavy woven foundation is fortified with extra threads forming a pile.
Nothing is definitely known about the origin or early history of carpet-weaving and a discussion of the basis of the most plausible theories on the subject cannot be entered into here. It seems however very possible that the art had its cradle among the nomadic peoples living to the north of India, that it was practised for centuries before the date of the oldest carpets still remaining, and that the knowledge of it spread outwards, but more especially in a westerly direction. On general grounds it is likely that smooth-faced carpets of tapestry-weaving preceded those with a pile, for the former is a much simpler and more obvious process. As actual specimens of tapestry-weaving (other than rugs) dating from at least 150o B.C. are known, and pile fabrics of at least the 3rd century A.D., there is no reason on technical grounds for deny ing to carpets a very early origin.
Perhaps the oldest pieces of carpet are certain fragments ex cavated by Sir Aurel Stein in Turkestan. These are attributed to about the beginning of the Christian era but their exact date and significance are not established. A western wall-hanging re sembling a carpet, made at Quedlinburg about the end of the 12th century, suggests strongly that oriental carpets were not unknown in Europe at that date and that the technique of one had been copied by the Quedlinburg weavers, but it is not quite out of the question that the art may have been independently invented, especially as a modified form of the oriental technique is adopted. Three carpets in the mosque of Ala-ed-Din at Konia are attributed with some certainty to the early 13th century, and the historical evidence is supported by the nature of their patterns which, while differing from those of any other known carpets, may well be primitive forms of later and better known ornament.
With the exception of these isolated pieces and perhaps a few others not as yet recognized as early, it is doubtful whether we still have carpets much earlier than the i6th century. By that date however it is certain not only that the art was well estab lished, but that it had in fact already reached its highest level of achievement in both Persia and Turkey; and further it is known that carpets from the latter country had been exported to Spain, England and other European countries in the previous century and that their introduction had soon led to successful attempts at knotting in the western world. It is probable also, if not certain, that during the i6th century carpets were made in the Caucasus, India, Turkestan and China.
A brief outline of the later history of carpet-knotting can be given more conveniently when the carpets of particular countries are described.
which is usually the case, a row of knots is tied on the warp threads in a horizontal line, and then one or more other threads— the weft—are interlaced with the warp, each weft-thread passing alternately under and over con secutive warp-threads. Lines of knots alternate with lines of weft until the work is finished. The warp and weft are visible at the back of the carpet but not at the front, and the pattern is formed by the knots, which are of coloured yarn, individually at the choice of the weaver. Two kinds of knots only are used in oriental carpets—the Persian or Sehna—and the Turkish or Ghior des (see figs. i and 2). A third kind, tied on one warp-thread instead of on two, is found in most Spanish carpets but rarely elsewhere (see fig. 3). After each line of knots is tied and the weft-threads are inserted, the work is consolidated by beating down with a heavy comb and the ends of the pile are rough trimmed with shears. When the knotting is all finished the pile is with great care cut to an even surface. Should the required car pet be longer than the loom, then at intervals the finished part is rolled round the lower beam and more of the warp is unwound from the upper. The treatment of the sides or selvedge, where the weft doubles back on itself, and of the top and bottom, where the ends of the warp often form a fringe, is capable of more variation in detail than can now be described. A simple and easily constructed loom, with fixed beams instead of rollers (see fig. 4), exhibits most of the features of larger looms and is suitable for the use of those who wish to try practical carpet knotting or weaving. Smooth-Faced Carpe ts.— The majority of these are made by the tapestry method, which is only a modified form of plain cloth weaving. Each weft-thread is carried under and over consecutive warp-threads in the usual way, but the yarn for the weft is bulky and is inserted so loosely that when it is beaten down it completely hides the warp. By choosing a weft sufficiently strong and heavy, a very durable fabric may be obtained. The pattern is formed by varying the colour of the weft, and only carrying each colour as far as it is needed. It will be seen that a change of colour necessitates a discontinuity in the weft (see fig. 5) ; and where lines of the pattern lie parallel to the warp a slit will occur in the fabric. Either lines in this direction must be avoided by the designer—a condition that has much influence upon the patterns of kilims, as tapestry-woven rugs are called— or the slits must be sewn up afterwards. The back of a kilim is almost exactly like the front, though usually rather less tidy. To rugs woven by a modified form of the tapestry method the name soumak is applied. In these the weft is carried forward over four of the warp-threads and then backwards behind two (see fig. 6). This gives a kind of herring-bone texture at the front and a series of ribs at the back of the fabric. Because a weft looped round the warp-threads as described has much less than the usual binding effect, it is found necessary to insert in the ordinary way other weft-threads that remain hidden among the coloured threads forming the pattern.