Study of rugs

What gives peculiar interest to the study of rugs is the fact that in this age, when every­thing is pin-pointed and classified to the «th degree, nobody.so far has discovered for certain when the knotted pile carpet came into existence, Even its place of origin is still doubtful although the general consensus of opinion favours the high land of Asia Minor or Persia.

Necessity frequently breeds invention and as knotted pile carpets are definitely more cosy than the smooth-faced variety, it seems more than probable that they were first made by the nomad tribes of shepherds inhabiting those great plateaux.

Their very means of livelihood, their flocks of sheep and goats, were at hand to provide ample wool of a peculiarly strong quality (such as is still produced by flocks pastured in the districts) and it is easy to imagine a weaver of cloth experimenting one day by taking a short twist of wool round two warp threads of his loom and then realising that he had evolved a new technique in his craft.

Thus may the pile rug have been born.