Just What Is a "Washed and Painted" Oriental Rug?
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Just What Is a "Washed and Painted" Oriental Rug?
The first widespread interest in Oriental rugs in the United States occurred
after World War I, in the 1920's. There was a great deal of money made as the US
industrialized before the War, and even more as businesses geared up for war
production (these were the days before a personal income tax!). At the end of WW
I it became fashionable for wealthy Americans to make "the grand
tour"--to go by steamship to Europe and spend several months seeing all the
sights. When Americans returned, newly cultured (!?) from such a trip, many
built new homes or significantly expanded older homes, incorporating design and
decorating ideas they had seen in Europe. Many Americans brought back
furnishings (among them Oriental rugs) for their fancy new homes.
For hundreds of years in Europe (since the 1600's), the Oriental rug business
worked through pickers or agents selecting rugs in weaving countries like Turkey
and Persia (Modern Iran), and sending the selected carpets to dealers in
England, Germany, France, and Italy. For hundreds of years there was a large
stock of old rugs available in Turkey and Persia. People rarely wore hard-soled
shoes indoors in these countries, and repair and cleaning services for handmade
rugs were available everywhere for almost no money. It was easy and cheap to
keep older rugs in good condition, and as a result rugs lasted a long time. Rugs
accumulated in the households of people who by western standards were otherwise
quite poor.
Thus the European agent or rug picker could come into a village in Turkey or
Iran and offer an amount of cash money that was modest by European standards for
an old rug, but which was a literal fortune to the rug's owner. For generations
most of the flow of Oriental rugs to Europe consisted of choice, old carpets,
and European dealers and their customers became accustomed to and preferred the
softer contrast, muted colors, and quieter general appearance of old rugs.
Suddenly, however, there came the influx of American rug buyers in the 1920's.
It turned out that the supply of old rugs in Turkey and Persia was not
inexhaustable, and dealers became afraid that when the supply of old rugs ran
out, customers would not accept the brighter, sharper look of new rugs. Hence
there developed several schemes to make new rugs look like old rugs.
The Process
The most widespread of these efforts happened in New York and New Jersey. There
were workshops set up to chemically bleach new rugs so the colors were softened.
This is the "washing" part of the washed and painted process. It is
very difficult to bleach vat dyed wool (household chlorine bleach isn't nearly
strong enough). Processes were developed using very active chemicals, including
even gaseous fluorine (really wicked and dangerous stuff--no EPA in those
days!). The problem was that Oriental rugs were woven with many different color
tones. A heavy chemical wash that lightened the very dark colors in the rug
would almost wash out completely the lighter colors in the design.
So, there was developed the "painting" part of the process. After the
rugs were chemically washed, they were laid out on large worktables and
selectively re-dyed. A big carboy of aniline dye was connected by a rubber tube
to a pen made of a piece of glass tubing drawn to a small opening, and equipped
with an on-off valve. The worker turned on the pen, and then stippled in the dye
wherever the appropriate color was required. Most often only two or three colors
were painted in: usually a particular shade of purpleish red, medium sky blue,
and navy. Because this labor (even at 1920's labor rates) cost money, only the
face of the rug and not the back was painted. After the rug was washed and
painted, it was sometimes given a glycerin or paraffin treatment to make the
wool look shiny (the rug was hotwaxed). When all this work was finished, the
dealer had an instant old rug that could be mixed into his stock or sold as a
complement to the old rugs a customer already owned.
The Value of a Washed and Painted Rug
The washing and painting process added to the cost of an Oriental rug, but at
the same time made the rug more saleable. Thus, washed and painted rugs always
sold for more money than unwashed rugs. The problem was that in several ways the
customer got less value in the washed and painted rug. The chemical washing
process lightened the colors in the rug, but it also removed some of the natural
lanolin and oils from the wool, and so made the wool (and the rug) less durable.
The applied dye was just painted in cold, and was sometimes not as colorfast as
a vat dyed color would have been.
There is also an aesthetic complaint. If the dealer wanted to, he could
literally change the field color of a rug in the washing and painting process.
After the rug was recolored, the weaver might not even recognize his own rug!
The real problem was that if left unwashed, the new rug would age naturally to
become a softer, more muted antique. Short-circuiting the process by washing and
painting produced a rug that cost more, wore more quickly, and was worth less in
the end.
With very worn washed and painted rugs there is another effect that is very evident. When painting the rug, the worker tended to apply lots of dye to large solid-colored areas where the going was easy. As the worker got close to the bounds of the color s(he) was applying, s(he) had to be more careful not to slop the color, and so less dye was actually applied to these areas. The rug was thick and heavy when it was painted, and in areas where lots of dye was applied, the dye went deeply into the pile. Less dye was applied near the areas of a color boundary and the dye didn't penetrate as deeply into the nap. As the rug wore thin, we often see a distinctive "halo" effect where main colors lighten as they approach color boundaries. Look carefully at Photo 2, a picture of the face of a worn washed and painted Hamadan, and you should see this halo effect:
These two characteristics are the clearest indicators of a washed and painted Oriental rug. Have any of your carpets had this treatment?