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RUGBY

1642

RUGS, ORIENTAL

Genoa about 1809. He was a fellow-student of Mazzini (q. v.), and helped him to organize his famous association, called Young Italy. In 1848 Ruffini was Sardinian ambassador at Paris, but next year he made his home in England. His novel of Lorenzo Benoni is based on his own life. His most famous book is Doctor Antonio. He died in 1881.

Rug7by, a town of Warwickshire, England, is 30 miles southeast of Birmingham. The gunpowder plot was hatched near here, and the battlefield of Naseby is not far. Its famous school was founded in 1567 by Lawrence Sheriff, a grocer and stanch supporter of Queen Elizabeth. Under famous X)r. Arnold the school gained a national reputation. Rugby is now, by all odds, the best school in England. Among its many well-known students were Landor, Clough, Matthew Arnold, Dean Stanley, Lord Derby, Mr. Goschen and Thomas Hughes, whose Tom Brown's School-Days is read by boys the world over. See Stanley's Life of Arnold. Population 16,830.

Kugs, Oriental. Rug-weaving is a very ancient art that is probably traceable to Egypt and Babylonia. Persia leads in the production of luxurious and beautiful rugs; thence the art spread to Greece, Arabia, Turkey, Afghanistan and India.

The rug in the orient is not only floor-covering but also wall-hanging, bedding and furniture. Not only was it a source of comfort in the home, but it had a prominent place in religious ceremonies and as temple, mosque and church decoration. The Mohammedan has his prayer-rug which he spreads and kneels upon at the hour of prayer, with the point of the design toward Mecca, the direction in which he bows his head. In the far east rugs are used as saddle-bags and trappings for camel and horses. Originally women were the only weavers. Where rugs are not made for the trade, as they are now in parts of Turkey, India and Persia, women still are the sole rug-makers. Each weaver had a special design which was frequently handed down, with few variations, for several generations.

The implements and materials of the rug-craft are very simple, consisting of two long poles hung horizontally on which the warp of cotton or hemp is strung, balls of the various colored yarns used in the design, a rude kind of comb for packing down the pile as it is tied around the warp-threads and a knife or shears for cutting and trimming the pile. An oriental rug is valued according to the number of knots to the square inch, some rugs having as many as 500 knots in a square inch. These knots are all tied by hand, and it is said that a good weaver can tie about three a minute, so that each rug of any considerable size must take years to make. The materials, beside the cotton or hemp warp, are silk, wool from the sheep

or goat and camel's hair. The colors are of animal and vegetable origin, being obtained from indigo, madder, larkspur, saffron, henna, valonia and walnut husks, and are rich, brilliant and permanent. The men gather the dye-plants or cultivate them, work them into dye and dye the wool.

The designs of all but the Mohammedan rugs are both derived from nature and from geometric forms that are supposed to have some symbolic significance. The Mohammedan was forbidden by his religion to imitate any forms of nature; so he has been forced to invent designs that either are purely geometric or are extremely conventionalized suggestions of natural forms.

There are at least 14 varieties of Persian rugs, among which are Khorasan, Meshed, Herat, Shiraz, Kirman, Tabriz, Senna, Saraband, Teraghan, Saruk, Herez, Hamadan, Sultanabad and Ispahan. The Shah of Persia in his palace at Teheran has a marvelous collection of antiques, among which is the carpet that belonged to the famous peacock-throne at Delhi. The climax of this art in Persia was the i6th century. Persian designs are characterized by a floral pattern.

The region of the Caucasus Mountains is prolific in the production of rugs, the art of weaving which was learned from Persia. Their design is pronouncedly geometrical, using the star, diamond-form, square and fretwork. The rugs listed as Caucasian are Daghestan, Cabistan, Tzitzi, Malgaran, Der-bend, Kasak, Guenja, Kashmir, Shir van and Karabagh.

The Kurds combine the designs of Persia and Caucasia in five kinds of rugs known as Persian Kurdistan, Turkish Kurdistan, Sar-akhs, Mossoul and Khilim, the latter are without pile and closely woven in beautiful design and color. They are used as rugs, tent-hangings and blankets.

Among the old Turkish rugs are some wonderfully beautiful ones. It is to be regretted that to-day this district is turning out carpets of an inferior quality both in workmanship and color. From Turkey come the Ghiordes, Koulah, Bergamo, Ladic, Yuruk, Milas, Kaisarieh and Turkish Khilim rugs. Turkoman rugs come from Russian Turkestan and are known as Bokhara or Tekke, Khiva or Afghan, Yomut and Baluchistan. The Bokharan rugs are woven exclusively by women. Their design is marked by a beautiful straight-line pattern and their color is rich and harmonious.

In India the weaving is done by the men and boys, while the women are skilled in making of the dye. Tanjore is a prominent center of this industry. The large medallion-center and smaller border in green, blue, crimson and yellow are characteristic of this weave. Beautiful silk rugs come from Tan-jore, Masulipatam and Benares. The modern production of Indian rugs is made under the direction of firms who control the indus-