Some importance, finally, attaches to the brown band formed around the outside of the rug. Wide observation of old Chinese rugs reveals the fact that brown, used for this purpose, is an almost unfailing mark of very early origin. As time went on, blue began to supersede it, and through recent centuries the blue band has been well nigh universal; though in some few localities, apparently, brown has been adhered to for this purpose, down to a comparatively late day. PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 2, SERIAL No. 102 COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. CHINESE RUGS By JOHN KIMBERLY MUMFORD _Author and Expert on Rugs_ _COLOR PLATES_ ANTIQUE CHINESE RUG ANTIQUE CHINESE RUG ROUND CHINESE RUG _COLOR PLATES_ OLD CHINESE RUG OLD CHINESE TEMPLE RUG VERY EARLY CHINESE RUG [Illustration: A VERY CONSISTENT DESIGN Center and border have a single motive. The fret and spot stripes furnish the accent] THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS MARCH 1, 1916 Entered at the Post-office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter. Copyright, 1916, by The Mentor Association, Inc. There are many reasons for believing that the weaving of rugs was not indigenous to China, but was borrowed, perhaps a very long time ago, from Persia, or, possibly even earlier, from the Turkomans, to whom has generally been attributed the invention of the piled or upstanding knot. Recent investigations lead one to disbelieve in this, and to consider even these ancient Turkomans as more or less modern. But they nevertheless confirm the belief that rug weaving was an acquired art with the Chinese. This conviction is further sustained by the relatively small part rugs or rug weaving have had in the Chinese artistic tradition, the absence of reference to them in literature, and the fewness of fine Chinese rugs as compared with the multitude of wonderful pieces that have emanated from Persia, Turkestan, India, and Turkey. In China rugs do not appear to have been so much a part of the daily, intimate life of the people as they are and always have been in the Moslem countries, nor have they received so much of reverent attention. True, much of Chinese religious symbolism has been woven into the rugs, but chiefly in the few special pieces made for the ornamentation or furnishing of the temples. The Mohammedan’s rug is closely related to his daily devotions. In China the rug has no such place, but is in the main a utility; and for this reason, perhaps, efforts to produce masterpieces have been far fewer in China, and there appears to have been no record or tradition of individual weavers of renown. In only a few instances is there found in Chinese rugs the studious and wonderful elaboration displayed, for example, in the sixteenth-century Persian rugs, the fine fabrics of old Damascus, or the superlative weavings of the Perso-Indian artists.