2. One who or something which has a transitory existence.
Rug collectors, have recent rug prices passed you by? Have rug prices gone beyond your pocketbook? Do nice Seichur Kubas that you used to buy for $800 in the late '60s now sell for $8,000? Does the Tekke Main Carpet you bought for $1,000 in 1974 now go for $4,000 at auction and $8,000- $10,000 from a dealer?
If so, you may want to know that some collectors, discovering that Oriental rugs have become too expensive to collect, have found a whole genre of rug related ephemerae which offers a cheaper, interesting way to remain involved with Oriental rugs.
Our addiction to rug books is partially what brought rug ephemerae to our attention. Off and on over the years of our rug bibliophilia, our attention has been attracted by certain rug-related items. We bought these and have accumulated a small collection which we now share with you in the event you wish to break your rug-buying habit or find a new object to collect. We hope you enjoy this small collection and that a new and less costly level of collecting in the Oriental rug area will be launched. We urge all our readers to bring other rug ephemerae to our attention. We may even begin a lottery on which auction house will stage the first Rug Ephemera Auction!
Oriental rug ephemerae, like most ephemerae, are usually paper or cloth products which are of a transitory or impermanent nature, not intended to last beyond an event or a few uses. There are a few items which we have found that are not paper.
Before launching into a presentation of the various kinds of rug ephemerae extant, we should point out that there are items which initially appear to be rug ephemerae but are not. For example, there is a group of Austrian metallic statuettes depicting a rug dealer throwing out an Oriental rug or preparing to say his prayers. These take the form of bookends, lamps, vases, or simply chochkees. They are not ephemerae because they are not transitory. As they are made of metal, they were not created to be used and discarded; made at the turn of the century, they have lasted longer than many rugs.
We recall in Iran seeing plastic placemats or larger, 4'x6' linoleum mats with images of Oriental rugs printed on them. Of special interest was a set of placemats depicting a Qashqa'i rug and a large plastic printed rug with a Tekke gul pattern. Washable, these were used over and over by Iranian families for their picnics. Americans who lived in Iran brought these mats home with them, and they appear from time to time; they don't really qualify as Oriental rug ephemerae.
Posters
Quite possibly the largest number and greatest variety of rug emphemerae are posters of Oriental rug exhibitions. Most posters are a standard poster size, 20"x30", but some are not; the "Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia" poster is an unusual 12"x30". As with rug advertisements, the most successful posters are those which feature a simple picture of a rug; examples include the "Weavers, Merchants and Kings" poster with its unique Eagle Kazak, the Textile Museum's Chinese pillar rug from "China Looms Resplendent," and the Seljuk fragment on the "First International Congress on Turkish Carpets" poster. These three posters were beautifully printed and appear to have sold well.
Not all posters are successful. Perhaps the Joe Blyfstyk Award for Most Doomed Poster is shared by two printed for the Yoruk exhibit. Designed by a professional graphic designer, the poster for the Pittsburgh opening, illustrates a segment of an appliqued, ivory felt yurt hanging, an item unknown and unappreciated by the rug world; the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh still has 90% of the printing run. A small, insignificant poster showing heavily laden camels, which seem to have been drawn by a kindergartener, was printed for the Chicago viewing of this exhibition; although interesting as a naive form of American folk art, it too was something of a flop. Other posters, such as that for the "Kings, Heroes and Lovers" exhibition, which was a cult favorite of pictorial rug lovers but an exhibition of limited success, are flops because of that particular rug theme.
Although there are discreet distinctions in the sizes, popularity, and attractiveness of posters, there is no great range of prices and a good poster is not more expensive than a bad one. They offer a topical range equivalent to that of baseball cards or book matches. At the present, they offer a good opportunity for price appreciation. Our recommendation: Buy!
Dealers usually print postcards as announcements of special rug sales or exhibitions, and we have received several Christmas cards from European dealers featuring an Oriental rug. An interesting aspect of postcards is that it is impossible to know how many have been printed and how extensive the material may be.
Dealers Catalogs
It is sometimes difficult to decide whether dealer catalogs are emphemerae or books. Certainly the Herrmann and Bausback catalogs are not ephemerae, yet there are many which are. One of our favorites is the Amtorg catalog. To date we have found two versions of this brochure from the Soviet's U. S. import/export agency of the late '20s and '30s. One version has a red cover and another a green one. There are several illustration changes between the two versions. They are interesting because they show the types of new Turkoman and Caucasian rugs Amtorg was selling in the U. S. in those years.
Dealer brochures are advertising materials directly given to customers. A common one, Art Panels from the Hand Looms of the Far Orient, 1902, was from Pushman, an early Armenian merchant in Chicago. This pamphlet contains a photo of the author with "the first rug ever woven in Chicago". in 1890. A similar pamphlet was published by Nahigian Brothers, Oriental Rugs in the Home, in 1913. Several variations on this theme exist and in some cases it seems that the pamphlets were sold to other dealers who had their names imprinted on the title pages.
Such pamphlets are not limited to the early 20th century. In the 1960s and 1970s, Arthur Gregorian of Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, produced a variety of pamphlets and postcards for his business. Their importance is that they show, frequently in color, the rugs that the dealers of the period were selling.
Hali Magazine's Vol. 1, No.1 probably holds the record for paper Oriental rug material. But, a s apart of their promotional materials, they also printed a miniature version of Hali which included sample articles, features, and advertising pages from earlier issues. It's exactly the kind of item which was probably thrown away by most recipients and hence may be quite rare now.
Dealer Newsletters
Dealer newsletters are probably one of the most ephemeral of rug materials. They do not consist of many pages, are printed on cheap paper, and are not bound in any way. They are, therefore, among the most difficult items to find. Perhaps the most famous of this group is The Newsletter: The Oriental Rug Co. of Berkeley. Written by Murray Eiland to inform customers of the types of rugs he had bought on buying trips abroad or from private estates, these newsletters were the basis for his subsequently published rug books, except they have more raw information than was included in the books. A complete set spans the period from September, 1973 (Vol. 1, No.1), through December, 1977 (Volume VI, No.6). The Croneens of Australia also published a newsletter. The only other comparable item we've found is a collection of letters and advertising announcements produced by Charles Jacobsen. These were saved by one of his customers and contain valuable price information on the '30s, '40s, and '50s. In the same category are wholesalers' materials, but these are very difficult to find. It is one type of ephemera which was mostly thrown away. One of the most interesting finds we have made of this type is a small group of color prints of "Qandahar" rugs from India which were sold by the House of Schumacher. Although not dated, it is likely from the 1920s. Accompanying it is a list of dealers who carried these carpets; it is interesting to note that most of the dealers are not specialized Oriental rug dealers but rather department and furniture stores, a trend we see developing in today's expanding Oriental rug industry.
Another rug producer pamphlet we have comes from the Nichols Rug Company from China. A whole group of Chinese rugs from the '20s and '30s are called Nichols although many of them were not made in the Nichols factory but merely shared similar technical characteristics. This pamphlet shows some of their designs and lists places where they were sold. It is a valuable resource for illustrating what some Nichols rugs looked like.
A related type of item is a series of wool samples created by an Oriental carpet producer to show the colors his rugs could have. Today's wholesalers print catalogs of current designs; these are updated regularly with the pages of discontinued rugs replaced or discarded. Will anyone have a complete set of these catalogs as a record of today's product?
Another item which was imprinted with a dealer's name is a stiff paper sliderule. As the center section is drawn out, the information appearing through the window slits reveals characteristics of various rugs. It would seem to have been adapted from the charts of rug characteristics published in Hawley.
Magazine and Newspaper Articles
One would expect this to be one of the most plentiful categories of Oriental rug ephemerae, but we have found it quite limited. Though rare, when found these articles can be very interesting and valuable. One example is the series of seven articles by Arthur Upham Pope which appeared in International Studio Magazine from November, 1922, through May, 1923. Titled "Oriental Rugs as Fine Art," the series gives Pope's views on aesthetic values and inspirational sources of Oriental rugs including his specific commentary on Persian, Isphahan (sic), Polonaise, Turkish, and prayer rugs. An equally significant and interesting article by T. N. Goguel appeared in Burlington Magazine, May 1927. Titled "Some Turcoman Carpets and Their Ornamentation," it is one of the earliest articles on these rugs and illustrates two bird asmalyks and a Yomud main carpet almost identical to the famous Myers juval gul rug of The Textile Museum. In recent years, Antiques Magazine has published Oriental rug articles, and most recently Architectural Digest and Interior Design have had advertising supplements likely to become collectable.
Newspaper articles are more difficult to come by because they are truly ephemeral. One sometimes finds these tucked in the pages of old rug books from the '20s and '30s. It would seem from several we have that George Leland Hunter was a major writer for newspapers of articles about Oriental rugs and decorative art. Although he published books on European tapestries, he seems never to have a published a book on Oriental rugs hence his ideas on Oriental rugs appear only in this ephemera.
Miniature Oriental Rugs
These small rugs were included in packets of cigarettes early in this century. They are merely one of many articles, such as flags, which were used to entice people to buy the product. As these examples show, a wide range of rug designs were included: Kazak, Heriz, Chinese, East Turkestan, Turkish Prayers, and Hamadans. These are more highly prized by collectors of doll houses than by rug collectors.
Rug Washing Soap
Jerrehian's of Philadelphia used to give a sample bar of olive oil-based rug washing soap to its rug buyers. Included with the bar was a printed sheet detailing the location and services offered by the store. Larger bars were sold to those who wanted to do their own rug cleaning. We have never seen one of these for sale, and the example we show here is the last one Jerrehian's has of the sample size.
Yoruk Banner
These 2'x9' banners were made to publicize the Yoruk exhibition when it was at the Field Museum in Chicago. They were hung from light poles on Michigan Avenue during the period of the exhibition. Silk screened on canvas, most of these were likely destroyed after the exhibition closed. If more of these exist, they will most likely appear somewhere in the Chicago region.
Rug ephemerae can be an interesting sideline to rug collecting. They appear in unexpected situations and one must be constantly alert to spot them.
In the library of the Museum for Textiles in Toronto we found one of the most interesting pamphlets lately. It was produced by the Federal Electric Vacuum Cleaner Company. of Chicago to show how their product can be used to keep rugs clean and healthy. In reading it, one sees how some rug myths may have started.
It has chapters entitled "The Origin of Oriental Rugs,"
"Rugs from Persia," Rugs from Turkey," "Rugs from the
Caucasus," Rugs of Turkoman," "Chinese and Samarkand
Characteristics," and "Modern Floor Coverings." Each
chapter is accompanied by a page of designs common to each
of these areas and a map with small colored pictures of rugs.
Neither Hawley, Mumford nor Kendrick and Tattersall, the
sources of this data, are cited.
Chapters on "The Care of Rugs" and "The Danger of Dirt" provide opportunities to extoll the virtues of the vacuum cleaner as the "only device which will clean thoroughly and safely." But more specifically under "Advice from Physicians" we are told that "cases of tuberculosis, influenza, pneumonia and other forms of respiratory diseases have been traced to floor dirt carried to throat and lungs. Brooming aggravates this condition because it sends millions of microbes flying about the air." A Dr. Copeland, along with three others, "urge and commend" the use of electric cleaners. As a final clincher the last chapter, "Guard the Children," urges that the buyer "give to the children the protection to which they are entitled should they too be compelled to run the grave danger of exposure to the germs which lie hidden in the dust which they must stir up? ...Children are entitled to a better chance than that... it does not seem possible that any home would be without a modern cleaner with which to attack one of the fundamental causes of so much suffering - and remove all dangerous, destructive and disease - laden dirt from the house." It probably sold the vacuum cleaner but it seems it probably killed the sale of a lot of Oriental rugs as well. Published in 1929, this ephemeral pamphlet may tell us it was the advent of the electric cleaner, and not the Great Depression, which killed the Oriental rug industry for 30 years in this country.
