Identifier: illustratedcatal00amer_8 (find matches)
Title: Illustrated catalogue of the art and literary property collected by the late Henry G. Marquand
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: American Art Association Kirby, Thomas Ellis, 1846-1924 Sturgis, Russell, 1836-1909
Subjects: Marquand, Henry G
Publisher: New York : American Art Association
Contributing Library: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Library
Digitizing Sponsor: LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation

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inscriptions in silver thread, and all the rest, had been added at a laterperiod to replace the original border, which had been worn away. These opinions have been founded, I presume, upon the fact that the black groundof the centre is so badly worn that the yellow silk foundations show through in manyplaces. Whether this be the reason or no, the contention is ridiculous. This black dye,decocted with the aid of iron filings, is notorious throughout Asia for its corrosion of thewool, as stated elsewhere in this catalogue, while there is no color less injurious than theyellows, which are made from the Persian yellow berries. It may be true, or it may not, thatEastern weavers use this dye in order that the designs laid upon it in some livelier color mayultimately stand out in actual relief, an effect of which the Oriental is intensely fond. Themanner in which the green creepers and leaves are thrown up by the means in this carpet iscertainly admirable, whether it was intentional or not.
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1308 It is easy to multiply arguments which must convince any person of the absolute genuine-ness and integrity of this carpet. A new border assuredly need not have been woven on for acentury, for the commonest of rugs will last that long under Oriental usage without materialinjury. Where, then, after the middle of the seventeenth century, was the Ispahan red to befound for the border cartouches, to match so precisely the shade of the centre medallion ? Butthe most conclusive of all arguments is that examination of the back of the rug, long ago cov-ered with cloth in order to protect it, shows, with or without the aid of the glass, that thewarp is unbroken between the field and border at the ends; that only one quality of materialis used; and that the knots, amazingly fine and regular, proceed over the dividing lineabsolutely without interruption. The worn spot in any Eastern carpet that has been long used in an apartment of stateis almost always at one end of the field, where the own

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