While the Chinese of early times were master color makers, a very narrow schedule of colors has always served for the rugs, until the later decadent periods; in fact, this holds true in all Chinese art. There is in the entire kingdom of Chinese rug weaving no such jumble of unrelated colors as we find in the Persians. I have had occasion heretofore to make clear the Persian theory of color, that of neutralization by juxtaposition, in which a score of naturally conflicting colors are thrown together with great freedom, with the purpose that they shall neutralize one another. The Chinese had a concept more nearly approaching our own. He dealt in simple colors rather than in complex ones, and what neutralizations he accomplished were done before the actual weaving or else effected by the fading of the dyes after the rug was completed. In Chinese rugs art takes precedence of workmanship, and as the art declines, in the moderns, the texture seems to improve. [Illustration: AN OLD RUG IN GRAY AND SOFT BROWN COLORS Simple and effective. The lattice ground of the border has been used very intelligently] With this wide view of the Chinese habit and tendency before us, it is well to consider the all important matter of color. The range of coloring is noticeably narrow and correspondingly simple; though at first glance it does not always seem to be so. To this fact is doubtless due the restfulness which is the great charm of Chinese rugs. There are, to be sure, designs which are to the Western eye hard and discordant; but it will be found that most of these are in rugs of a religious sort, where the patterns include the dragons, Foo dogs, and other symbolic devices which seem to us grotesque and even repellent. It will be observed, however, when one has acquired familiarity with the Chinese rugs, that the adjustment of color values is most accurate, always bearing in mind that the Chinese seem to have discounted in the oldest and best periods of artistic production the mellowing influence of time. [Illustration: A COHERENT AND WELL BALANCED DESIGN The colors are blue and white] Most noticeable in Chinese rug coloring is the wonderful scope and quality of the blues. The highest expression of Persian skill in dyeing has always been found in blue; but even in this art--which, by the way, the Persians have now in a great measure lost--they must yield place to the Chinese. In the older rugs the Chinese blues show a range, a depth, and a luminous quality which are not surpassed in the world, and even the best modern pieces now being produced in Peking are in this respect superior to their Persian contemporaries.