RUGS, Oriental. History.—The origin of the floor coverings, popularly known as Oriental rugs, is a matter of tradition and, therefore, purely suppositional, for the fragmentary record of the ancients, on this subject, is casual and exceedingly incomplete.
Undoubtedly, however, along with the slow evolution of human progress, rugs, in some form, filled their proper places in the scant household furniture of primitive man.
An old Hebraic tradition ascribes distinction of skilful spinning of wool and weaving of cloth to ighter of Lamech, who was a near descend t of Adam, thus placing the handicraft of weaving close to the Biblical account of the, beginning of the human race.
It is not at all improbable that Egypt, the successful producer of many useful industries of the ancients, improved the crude handiwork of her predecessors, for we possess records of rugs on her rock-cut tombs, carvings and monuments, some of which date as early as 27 centuries ac.
Other wall paintings, stone carvings and monuments in the Euphrates Valley indicate clearly that the dwellers of these regions, such as Chaldeans, Assyrians, Armenians and Per sians were the first to use the rug for floor coverings, wall hangings, tomb coverings, awn ings and for devotional purposes, and that afterward the conquerors of these peoples, the Greeks, Romans, Turks, Turkomans and Sara cens took up the industry and spread its popu larity throughout their dominions.
Ancient Besides Biblical writers, among the ancients who mention rugs and carpets are included Diodorus, Ebers, Homer, Plautus, Horace, Pliny, Josephus, Arrian and almost all writers of note; but as stated above, not one of these famous men imparts definite information concerning the industry.
Introduced into very little is known concerning the rugs of the ancients, our knowledge takes definite shape and grows in volume along with the triumphant march of the religion of Mohammed the great prophet of Arabia, whose enthusiastic followers went from victory to victory fill they threatened the very existence of medieval Europe.
Rug making was introduced to Europe by the Moors, whose palaces and mosques in Cor dove, Granada and Castile were adorned with magnificent carpets, and later, when the Cru saders returned from their wars against the followers of the Crescent, they brought back with them not only a powerful desire for Oriental luxuries, but a knowledge of Oriental handicrafts, most important among which were rug and carpet making.
Thus, in about the latter part of the 13th century A.D. rugs were introduced in Europe as objects of wonderful ingenuity and of great value.
From that time interest in rugs from the Orient has constantly increased among all civilized peoples till to-day they rule supreme as the most desirable and most artistic floor coverings in the world.
Process of The general process of rug making of to-day is as old as when it was described first by ancient writers. To-day rugs are made by the descendants of the first rug makers in the same crude and primitive fashion. Nothing has been changed—nothing could be changed— for the process is so ab surdly rudimentary that it precludes improve ment. In the use of material, dyes and imple ments there has been no alteration made since before the period when Cleopatra was pre sented to Caesar wrapped in a magnificent carpet.
(a) The Loom, more properly the frame, on which a rug is to be made, consists of two perpendicular poles (not infrequently two trees) driven in the ground at a desired distance from each other; to these are fastened two horizontal bars, one on top, the other at the bottom of the poles.
(b) It is an absurdity to dignify by the name of Ictools* a crude wooden or iron comb and a pair of common shears, which about conclude the description of the '‘machin ery' of rug making; no other implement is re quired for the production of the finest Oriental rug.
(c) The The warp of a rug con sists of a desired thickness of thread or twine of wool, cotton, linen, hemp, goats' or camels' hair, and in some cases silk, which is stretched, back and front, upon the horizontal bars of the frame, at even spaces, to form the founda tion of the rug.