The interest in the very old weavings is not as manifest in the American cities as in many of the European cities, such for instance as Vienna, London, Paris, and Berlin. This is due to several reasons. In the first place, Europe began the importation of Oriental textiles many years before the United States did. In the second place, most of the choice pieces in the United States belong to private individuals instead of to museums, consequently they are seldom, if ever, seen by the public. In the third place, many of the European cities, especially London and Vienna, have given a number of public exhibitions of old rugs, while the recent exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts in New York City was the first one ever held in the United States. At this exhibit there were forty-seven pieces of the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, pieces that would compare favorably with those of any country, all owned by private collectors in the Eastern States.

Great credit is due Dr. Wm. R. Valentiner and his assistants for the promotion and successful management of this exhibition. Let us hope that it is but the beginning of a series of such exhibits which will stimulate a more formal interest and desire to know more about these wonderful products of the Eastern loom.

The age of old rugs can be at least as accurately determined as the age of old paintings and in many cases even more so. According to Dr. Valentiner the so-called Polanaise and Ispahan rugs belong to the 17th century and the Persian animal or hunting rugs belong to the 16th century, while the so-called dragon rugs belong to the 15th century. Many of the rugs from Armenia and the eastern part of Asia Minor date back as far as the 13th and 14th centuries.

Every old rug has its individual character manifest by its designs, colors, weave, and material, all of which are peculiar to the time when it was made or the locality in which it was made, so that it can be located and dated with greater accuracy than would be supposed.

Many early rugs were used for decorative purposes in the pictures of the early Italian and Flemish painters.

According to recognized authorities the so-called Polish carpets were not woven in Poland at all, but were products of Persia, and the so-called Ispahan rugs were not made at Ispahan or even in Persia, but came from the city of Herat in Western Afghanistan. Of the former several hundred are still in existence, the best of which are in the European courts and museums, about forty being in the United States, while nearly every collection contains one or more of the Herats.

The Ardebil Carpet.—Without a doubt the most famous Oriental carpet now known is the mosque carpet of Ardebil owned by the South Kensington Museum in London.

It is a Persian masterpiece and was made in 1536 by one Maksoud for the Ardebil Mosque. In size it is thirty-four and one-half by seventeen and one-half feet and contains in the neighborhood of 32,000,000 knots, about 530 to the square inch, and was purchased by the South Kensington Museum for $12,500, although, if put up at auction to-day, it would doubtless bring many times that sum. The ground is of a rich blue and is covered with the most intricate of old Persian floral designs. It has a central medallion in pale yellow with corners to match. There are three border stripes, one wide one with a narrow one on either side of it. The ground of the outer stripe is of a tawny yellow with small floral designs; the ground of the inner stripe is cream colored and that of the main stripe is of a rich brown with round and elongated panels alternating and surrounded by a profusion of floral lines. Within these panels are to be found in Arabic the following inscription: "I have no refuge in the world other than thy threshold; My head has no protection other than this porch way; The work of the slave of the Holy place, Maksoud of Kashan." In the year 942 (which corresponds to A.D. 1536.)[B]

The Dragon and Phoenix Rug of the Kaiser Frederich Museum, Berlin, is a Central Asia Minor weave of the 14th century and is probably the oldest existing rug that has been identified with the representation of a similar fabric in a painting. It was purchased for the Berlin museum by Dr. Bode, from a church in Central Italy on account of its resemblance to a rug in the fresco painting representing the "Marriage of the Foundlings," one of the series painted by Domenico di Bartolo in Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala in Senna about 1440.

In design it represents a dragon and a phoenix in deadly combat.

The Austrian Royal Hunting Carpet.—Next in prominence to the Ardebil Carpet comes the Royal Hunting Carpet of the Austrian Imperial and Royal Court, which is said to have been presented by Peter the Great. It is a Persian rug of great antiquity and shows Chinese influence in the design, which includes elaborately woven horsemen in pursuit of deer and other animals and winged gods in contest with lions and buffaloes.

The Indian Hunting Rug of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is perhaps the most noted of the forty-seven pieces which were in the recent Metropolitan exhibit. It was made in India about 1640, is eight feet three inches long by five feet three inches wide and contains about three hundred and sixty knots to the square inch. Its predominating color is red. In the upper left-hand corner are a couple of buildings in which are seated in Oriental style several individuals. Below these buildings are several deer, a chained leopard in a cart drawn by a bullock, hunters, a winged elephant, tigers, and goats, all of which are interspersed with floral and tree forms. There are three border stripes, the centre one of which is the wider and carries leaf-shaped panels containing faces. Each one of these panels is separated by a bird and small floral forms upon a cream-colored ground. The two narrow stripes carry designs in light and dark blue, pink and red. This rug was purchased at $35,000 by the late Governor Ames of Massachusetts and presented to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

The Altman Prayer Rug, owned by Mr. Benjamin Altman of New York City, was made in North Persia about 1580. It is similar to one which was in the Yerkes sale and to another one which was shown at the recent Munich exhibition of Mohammedan art. It has beautiful floral designs with arabesques and Chinese motifs in deep shades of red, blue, and yellow, many of the designs being worked with light yellow or silver thread in the ghileem style. The Mihrab is the Persian style, from which hangs a mosque lamp which is covered with red, yellow, and pink flowers on a green ground. The lower part of the field is covered with various floral and tree forms in yellow with pink blossoms. There are two border stripes. The inner one has a yellow ground, the lower part of which is covered with arabesques and the upper part with Arabic inscriptions in blue which read "May the Blessing of God rest upon them all. There is no God but Allah (the true God); Mohammed is the prophet of God. Ali is the saint of God. God the exalted one says: Verily God and His angel shower their blessings upon the prophet. Oh ye faithful send your blessings with Him, as well as offer your salutations unto Him." The outer border has a blue ground upon which are rounded octagons and oblong panels in gray, the latter containing inscriptions from the Koran in black. Size five feet five inches by three feet three inches.

The Metropolitan Animal Rug (see illustration at p. 26), from the Ardebil Mosque, was made in Northern Persia about 1530. It was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Yerkes collection. On a claret colored ground are the repeated figures of a lion, a jackal, and a spotted deer in deadly combat. There are also running boars amid a profusion of flowers. There are three border stripes, a wide one with a narrow one on either side. The former is filled with arabesques and cloud bands in blue and pink on a ground of dark blue. The inner stripe carries a green design on a yellow ground and the outer stripes carry a floral design on a red ground. In size it is ten feet eleven inches long by five feet ten inches wide and has in the neighborhood of four hundred knots to the square inch.

The Baker Hunting Rug (see illustration at page 338), owned by Mr. George F. Baker of New York City, is also one of the four famous mosque rugs of Ardebil. It was woven about the middle of the 16th century; it is about fourteen by six feet and contains upwards of five hundred knots to the square inch. It is a harmonious blending of red, blue, green, pink, brown, old rose, cream, white, and silver, the predominating color of the field being a dark red. It has three central medallions, one large one and a smaller one just above and below it, with a quarter segment of a cusped circle in each corner of the field to match. Intermediate spaces are filled with flowering branches, fish and animals, the latter being worked with silver thread in the ghileem stitch. There is one wide border stripe with a narrow one on either side. The former has a back of cream and carries alternately round and oblong medallions which contain verses from the Koran in silver.