Silk rugs were first made in China and afterwards in Anatolia and Northern Persia, where silk is produced in great quantities. They were formerly made for mosques, for royalty, or for very rich people, expert weavers being hired for the occasion and the material being furnished by the one who ordered the work done.
Fine silk rugs are unsurpassed in beauty, rich, exquisite coloring, and rare sheen, but they have never been practical as floor coverings; first, because they require such luxurious surroundings, and second, because the wearing quality of silk does not compare with that of wool.
The genuine Persian silk rugs are getting scarce and almost priceless. Strange as it may seem, few of these pieces have been sought by either the museums or collectors of America.
[Illustration: MERVE GHILEEM Size 10' × 2'8"
KURDISH GHILEEM Size 15'4" × 2'6" PROPERTY OF MR. JOSEPH SHEHADI]
Those made at Kashan in Northern Persia are the best of the present day products. As a rule they are made entirely of silk having a narrow web and a fringe of loose warp threads at each end and with beautiful shades of red, rose, turquoise, old ivory, and green.
In Persia they sell for from $10.00 to $15.00 per square foot and in the United States for from $15.00 to several hundred dollars a square foot.
A much cheaper and a purely commercial product comes from Kaisarieh or Cæsarea, in Asia Minor. These, as a rule, have a cotton warp and weft and are copied after the old Persian and Ghiordes designs, especially the so-called "Mosque design" with the hanging lamp. These rugs are undesirable in color, dyes and workmanship and are invariably worth much less than the prices asked for them. The great majority of them can be detected by the direction in which the pile runs, it being inclined towards the top instead of towards the bottom.
It is easy to go astray in the purchase of silk rugs on account of the numerous mercerized and wool silk imitations, many of them not even being hand-tied but machine made.
Felt rugs are made to a certain extent in nearly every part of Persia, but chiefly at Ispahan, Astrabad, and Yezd. They are made of wool, goats' hair or camels' hair or of a combination of two or all of these substances, according to the color desired. As no dyes are employed and the finished product is the same in color as that of the materials used, they are usually gray, white or buff, most frequently the latter. The material is matted together by being pounded, occasionally sprinkled with water in which rapeseed-oil cakes have been soaked for a long time, and then pounded more until it becomes compact and solid. The finished product varies in thickness from three-quarters of an inch to three inches and is as soft and pliable as cloth, but too heavy for exportation, consequently few come to Western markets. In the Orient they are used as floor coverings on top of which ordinary pile carpets are placed. In this country they have been used in bedrooms, also as a covering for dining tables, and as silence cloths, but they will not stand the wear of chairs and are an easy mark for moths. They can be purchased for from $7.00 to $10.00 per yard.