Page:The Practical Book of Oriental Rugs - Lewis - 1911.djvu/29

INTRODUCTION covered it with painted tapestry from Egypt." Job said: "My days are swifter than the weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope." Other places in the Bible where reference is made to the art of weaving are, Ex. 33, 35, Sam. 17, 7, and Isa. 38, 12. Besides Biblical writers, Plautus, Scipio, Horace, Pliny and Josephus all speak of rugs.

The Egyptian carpets were not made of the same material and weave as are the so-called Oriental rugs of to-day. The pile surface was not made by tying small tufts of wool upon the warp thread. The Chinese seem to have been the first to have made rugs in this way. Persia acquired the art from Babylon many centuries before Christ, since which time she has held the foremost place as a rug weaving nation.

There is no more fascinating study than that of Oriental rugs and there are few hobbies that claim so absorbing a devotion. To the connoisseur it proves a veritable enchantment: to the busy man a mental salvation. He reads from his rugs the life history of both a bygone and a living people. A fine rug ranks second to no other creation as a work of art and although many of them are made by semi-barbaric people, they possess rare artistic beauty of design and execution to which the master hand of Time puts the finishing touches. Each master-piece has its individuality, 18