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Between the Caucasus district and the region of the Great Rivers lie the three lakes Gokcha, Van, and Urumiah, with Mount Ararat as a somewhat central point : these give a permanence to the physical aspect of the country and to this tract, men have come and gone from far and near all through the years since, according to tradition, the peaceful dove was sent forth from the ark by Noah. During the past century railroads have made life in this part of the Orient very different from what it was before ; but, whatever the detrimental effects of steel-rail invasion may be, we are at present gainers, for travellers are giving us both impressions and photographs of things that materially assist us in our study here at home. Within half a century many most learned writers on the architecture of the Orient have frankly said that there were certain places closed to travellers, about which one could only speculate. Even Ferguson, in speaking of Samarcand less than forty years ago, writes: " Unfortunately no photographs have yet been published of Samarcand, and no plans of the buildings of that far-famed city. We have not seen any such detailed descriptions as would enable us to speak with anything like certainty of their affinities or differences with other buildings of the same age. All that can be said with certainty is that the Great Mosque and tomb of its founder at Samarcand are enamelled in the same style as the mosque at Tabreez. .. The whole facade of the mosque, together with minarets and domes, is covered with painted tiles so far as can be ascertained." In contrast to this, in a letter written within the present year, a friend states that a returned traveller who has very much enjoyed his trip through Turkestan, has brought back 565 kodak views of central Asia. Close study of these views of the details in the ornament of the mosque and tomb of Tamerlane, to which Ferguson alludes so guardedly; of the interesting features connected with the life of the people all along the way in Russia, Turkestan, the Caucasus district, and the region of the lakes, where on his return trip the traveller made a careful study of the physical aspects of the country,—all tend to stimulate the stayer-at-home to perfect his methods of making an analytical study of objects, that by and through them he may be led into a comprehension of all that they embody. As it seemed appropriate to consider the tree in ornament where it had its mythical origin,—in the Garden of Eden,—just so it seems not amiss to formulate our opinions about sacred mountains while in thought we are wandering in the region of Mount Ararat. The Garden of Eden and the story of the Deluge have their counterparts in the folk-lore of all peoples. It has been given to the student of Chinese symbolism to trace unmistakably, in ornament, the sacred mountain of eastern Asia, and to follow it on its migration westward, where, in the rugs of Turkestan and the Caucasus district, as well as in certain Persian and Turkish antique specimens, Mongolian influence is strongly felt. A symbol that has to do with something people can understand is more readily adopted than one about which nothing is known. On this account the tree and the mountain, like the sun and the planets, have always been popularly considered and universally adopted, and the worship of the mountain manifested by those who embroidered its outlines upon their garments, and who called one of their divinities " The Great Mountain," was easily suggested and perchance communicated to others all along- the line of conquest. In the old days this " Great Mountain " was considered the god of the Tartars. Be this as it may, we find in antique rugs enough to verify our most venturesome belief in the meaning and migration of the pattern. The sacred mountain of China, as it appears in ornament, is mythical ; for, while that land abounds in mountain peaks of interest, it is to the mountain in design that allusion is here made.. At the centre of all things it arose from the ocean of Eternity. It had to do with elemental conditions, and was the first material manifestation when all was void. The mountain in Mongolian ornament is often pictured as having five peaks, sometimes only three. As an emblem in the hand of the " Pearly Emperor" and the Taoist priests, it is represented as a single peak, as is also the case when the symbol is held by Confucius. However significant this emblem, together with the sceptre and the fungus, may be to the student of symbolism, they have in ornament become known and verified features, and have been given names by which they may be designated. In the ornament of no other part of the world have single features been so perpetuated as in China, because, as has been before stated, that which was vital in the past has still meaning to-day. In naturalistic representation, t h e mountains of the Orient, from Fujiyama in Japan to the Mount of Olives in the west, have figured in art and story ; but, with the exception of the mythical mountain Sumeru, of Hindu mythology, there is nothing that equals in importance the Mongolian conventionalised representation of the sacred mountain. All primitive peoples have believed that the souls of the righteous mounted to heaven from the branches of trees on high mountains, and for this reason the mountains are revered, and are sometimes pictured in early art as bearing a crest or crown of stars. Star myths have in this way become intimately associated with legends of mountains, and deities presiding over the events of life are, by imaginative mortals, given special stars for their abode. The clouds, too, form part of the conventionalised ornament that bears directly upon these considerations ; and one special cloud form, which can be traced more directly than almost any other from the eastern to the western Orient, appears again and again in rugs and can be vouched for as a symbol of the presiding deity, whether it be Jew or Gentile, Christian or Pagan, who in looking upward calls upon the Divine. This cloud form originally represented the constellation of Ursa Major, in which, by the Mongolians, the Great Ruler was supposed to reside. In sixteenth-century carpets the form of the constellation and the star circles themselves are preserved, but in later copies the cloud form remains, with loss of meaning, as a simple ornamental form. The outline of the fungus, or joo-e is sometimes mistaken for a cloud form in ornament, and one should use thought in deciphering and determining forms and their derivation and meaning. When a Mongolian Tartar, 300 years ago, wished to represent Paradise, he threw over the field of his rug a design which resembled twisted ribbons and flowing bands, which threaded their way through numberless cloud forms, and which connected small circles and discs representing stars. Celestial beings were so designated by their surroundings, and not by wings or halos. One of the genii would be represented with clouds at the base of the figure, and a favourite deity would be surrounded with a conventionalised star ornament representing his own special constellation, from which he was supposed to control the fates of men. Later thought has shown itself in designs in old Ispahan rugs, where Mohammedan influence has introduced and mingled winged angels and other symbolic representations quite at variance with the older thought. There are certain famous old carpets now treasured in museums and homes, upon which is indicated, as plainly as though written in so many words, a verdict by the weaver like this : " I am by birth a Persian Mohammedan ; but I intend in this rug to copy many old Mongolian devices which I do not understand, so I will faithfully reproduce them. I will, however, reserve the corner spaces for ideas of my own about Paradise, as the designs I am about to copy evidently refer to that happy place. I will also surround the entire field of my rug, in which I intend to weave these to me foreign ideas, with pure Persian border patterns : in this way I shall remain true to my birthright." And the student must one day be so familiar with the migration of ornament that he shall be able to distinguish at a glance between foreign and native elements in the design in any fabric. |
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