This attractive rug is representative of a very admirable class of Chinese floor fabrics, and illustrates in the clearest manner some interesting and important features in the rug weaving art of China. The knottage, as will be learned from the specification above, is not great. A Mohammedan sedjadeh with only 42 knots to the square inch would be held of small merit, unless it came from one of two or three districts in Asia Minor--Bergamo for example, or else had some individual element of value, such as great age, phenomenal color, or uncommon design. In China, however, as has been pointed out in the accompanying text, high textures are not accounted of large importance. This rug is not of great antiquity, nor yet is it of very recent manufacture. It might with safety be attributed to the Kien Lung time, or some reign immediately thereafter. The best artistic tenets of Persia--so far as they appertain to rug weaving--have been conscientiously followed. The Mohammedan influence is not difficult to trace, and yet at no time can a foreign or vagrant note be discovered. The rug is thoroughly Chinese, not only in spirit but in every detail. It will bear careful study in the light of what has been said regarding the absorbent and adaptive quality of Chinese art in all ages. The border area is relatively narrow, wherein marked deference is paid to the oldest and best Chinese standards, and for all a distinctly floral character prevails, the utmost simplicity is maintained. It is a notably consistent rug. There is perfect harmony between border and center, and the most perfect manifestation of the Chinese artistic sense, perhaps, lies in the fact that, to the end of preserving simplicity and balance, the weaver has carefully refrained from “cluttering up” the border section with “guard stripes” requiring additional patterns, which in a rug of this character would have been superfluous and therefore disturbing. Throughout the field of the rug, despite a decidedly ornate touch, there is still a careful avoidance of excess. Only two elements appear--the emblematic butterfly and floral devices, which not only are combined to form the fine medallion, but which, with the utmost refinement of handling, suffice for all the secondary and tertiary constituents of the design.