The Magic of Oriental Carpets

QUESTION: My great grandmother left me a beautiful Oriental carpet runner. My grandmother said it is quite old, but I’m not sure by how much.  What can you tell me about antique Oriental carpets? I have no idea about its origins, pattern, and such.

ANSWER: What most people classify as Oriental carpets are actually Persian (now Iranian) or Turkish carpets. Originally made to cover the sand in the tents of nomads and to kneel on when saying daily prayers, these beautiful floor coverings have a long history.

Oriental carpets have been highly prized in the West since their first appearance in Venice in the 13th century. By the 18th century they were common in wealthier households. But relative demand was fairly small, so the production of carpets declined. During the 19th century, trade routes improved, contact with the Orient increased, and the Western obsession with the exotic grew. So Persian weavers produced great quantities of carpets for export.

Carpet-weaving is an integral part of Iranian culture and art and dates back to ancient Persia. Weavers from other countries copied the designs of Persian carpets, but Persia produced 75 percent of the world's woven carpets.

Generally, Persian carpets can be divided into three groups—Farsh/Qa-li, any carpet greater than 6×4 feet, Qa-licheh, sized 6×4 feet and smaller), and nomadic carpets known as Gelim including Zilu, meaning "rough carpet," mostly for use in tents.

Wool is the most common material for carpets but cotton is frequently used for the foundation of city and workshop carpets. There are a wide variety in types of wool used for weaving Oriental carpets, including . Kork wool, Manchester wool, and in some cases even camel hair wool.

Persian rugs have both a layout and a design which in general include one or more motifs, so it’s not unusual to find more than one motif in a single rug. The original designs act as the main pattern and the derivatives as the sub patterns. Rug experts have identified 19 pattern groups---historic monuments and Islamic buildings, Shah Abbassi patterns, spiral patterns, all-over patterns, derivative patterns, interconnected patterns, paisley patterns, tree patterns, Turkoman patterns, hunting ground patterns, panel patterns, European flower patterns, vase patterns, intertwined fish patterns, Mehrab patterns, striped patterns, geometric patterns, tribal patterns, and composites. The most common motifs include Boteh, Gul, Herati, Mina-Khani, Rosette, Shah Abbasi, Azari Kharchang, and Islimi Floral.

Persian rugs are typically laid out using one of four patterns—all-over, central medallion, compartment and one-sided. So a rug’s design can be described in terms of the manner in which it organizes the field of the rug. One basic design may serve the entire field, or the surface may be covered by a pattern of repeating figures. In areas using long-established local designs. the weaver often works from memory, with the patterns passed on within the family.

Weavers often tailored the dimensions of their carpets to suit Western needs. They produced a disproportionate number of runners—long narrow rugs originally designed to cover the sides of rooms or tents since these had special appeal to Westerners. Even so, the standards remained the same. The major carpet-weaving centers—Persia, Turkey and the Caucasus—continued to use traditional motifs and techniques, maintaining the carpets’ regional integrity and originality.

While carpets made before 1800 are extremely expensive, the antique carpet market offers some excellent buys for the beginning collector. High quality runners generally cost between $1,500 and $15,000, depending on overall design, pliability, date, and type and number of knots.

Edgar Allan Poe once said, “A judge at common law may be an ordinary man; a good judge of carpets must be a genius.” And as hard as they are to judge, they’re certainly easy to enjoy.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  the Industrial Age n the 2020 Winter Edition, "The Wonders of the Industrial Age," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

A Piece for Every Food

QUESTION: An uncle of mine collected Victorian silverware. All the pieces he had—some 400–were from the same pattern, Renaissance. One day, he invited me over for lunch. And to my surprise, he laid out two place settings of this beautiful silverware. Not only did we use the usual fork, knife, and spoon, but we also used numerous serving pieces. Why did the Victorians use so many different pieces of silverware? Did people try to outdo each other by seeing how many different pieces they could use at a single meal?

ANSWER: Today, some people break out their silverware service for eight or twelve for holiday meals and special occasions. It naturally goes with the “good china.” But in the second half of the 19th century, wealthy Victorians laid out as many as eight to ten pieces at each place setting! How could they afford to do this? Well, for one thing, they had lots of money, and secondly, they had servants to wash and polish all those pieces.

By the 1850s, table etiquette in the English-speaking world had begun to undergo dramatic changes, thanks in part to Queen Victoria. But the invention in 1830 of a silver plating process for applying, or electroplating, a coating of pure silver to a base metal, usually copper or a zinc alloy, sealed the deal.

Up until this time silver had been sterling, solid silver that was 925 parts pure silver per thousand—coin silver, solid silver made from melted down coins and containing varying amounts of pure silver, and Sheffield plate, a process that fused two sheets of sterling silver to either side of a core sheet of copper. Sheffield plate, named for the region of England, near Birmingham, where it was manufactured, was a process suited for household items, such as bowls, goblets, cups, and trays, but not suited for eating utensils.

Although Victoria's reign began in 1837, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that the opulence, extravagance, and rigidly adhered to social rituals and etiquette associated with the Victorian era reached their height. By 1850, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, both in England and America. Manufacturers could produce silverware somewhat inexpensively thanks to silverplating, and Queen Victoria set a new standard for social mores that centered around the home and family.



For centuries, flatware, or what most people called silverware, had consisted solely of spoons and ladles of varying sizes and materials, simple forks, and cutlery, or knives. People used forks with two or three tines to hold food for cutting and used knives to spear their food and transfer it to their mouths for eating. Queen Victoria soon changed that.

She frowned upon the use of the knife for spearing food. In order to discourage this practice, she encouraged silverware manufacturers to blunt the sharp ends of knife blades. The fork, until this time used primarily for holding food in place while people cut and speared it—much like our present day carving forks—became the utensil of choice. The rule became, never use a knife if a spoon can be used, and never use a spoon if a fork can be used. By the late 1800s, manufacturers were producing forks for every conceivable use—dinner forks, luncheon forks, salad forks, dessert forks, pastry forks, fish forks, oyster forks, berry forks and ice-cream forks, to name a few.

They also produced a variety of spoons—teaspoons, five-o'clock spoons (slightly smaller than a regular teaspoon), coffee or demitasse spoons, chocolate spoons, round cream soup spoons, bullion spoons (smaller than cream soup spoons), dessert spoons, cereal spoons, and more.

However, people still needed knives for cutting, so silverware makers produced dinner knives, luncheon knives, breakfast knives, fruit knives and butter knives. To emphasize the lesser role to which the knife had been relegated, matching knives, especially those with hollow handles, became less common than today. Victorian-era place setting knives, with the exception of butter knives and spreaders, usually had solid and plain or pearl handles, as well as handles of wood, bone, and ivory.

But it was the Victorian serving pieces where the extravagance and opulence of design was the most apparent. In addition to the traditional serving spoon, serving fork, gravy ladle, butter knife and sugar spoon that are staples of today’s silver services, Victorian silver manufacturers produced such items as asparagus servers, berry spoons, cucumber servers, fish servers, oyster ladles, soup ladles, preserve spoons, salt spoons, toast servers, tomato servers, and waffle servers, among many others. These  pieces were large and ornately decorated. They often heavily embossed the bowls of serving spoons and the base of the handles of serving forks and knives.
   
Once word of the electroplating process spread to the United States, a bevy of small silver manufacturers sprang up, primarily in Connecticut. Companies such as Oneida, Reed and  Barton, William Rogers, 1847 Rogers Brothers, and Wallace, became prominent and produced some of the most collectible silver flatware of that era. Ironically, the first patterns produced in any amount were silver plate. Later, in response to customer requests, they produced some of the same patterns in sterling. Later on, they made different patterns in sterling to distinguish them from silver plate.

Makers gave their silverware patterns names rather than numbers to identify them, the idea being that names would be easier to remember than numbers. They also thought that the names, themselves, would evoke an image of gracious living. Pattern names such as Moselle, Renaissance, Berkshire, Vintage, New Century, Orange Blossom, Grenoble, and York Rose are reminiscent of that refined era.

There are probably as many different ways of collecting and reasons for collecting as there are patterns and pieces in Victorian flatware. The next time you watch a TV series like “Downton Abbey,” notice the table settings. The prop department went out of their way to make sure that everything was exactly right and even instructed the actors in the proper etiquette for the time.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about western antiques in the special 2019 Winter Edition, "The Old West," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook. 

Elusive Rosenthal

QUESTION: My mother has a 12-place setting of Rosenthal china that she uses only on holidays and special occasions. I’ve always loved this pattern—her dishes say “Rosenthal Maria” on the bottom—but other than her set, I’ve never heard of this china company. I guess that’s because today we don’t entertain as formally as people used to. She told me that the set was given to her as a wedding gift. She and my father just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. I’d love to know more about this china since I’m sure one day it will be mine. What can you tell me about Rosenthal?


ANSWER: Rosenthal is and has been one of the finest European potteries since Abraham Rosenthal founded it in 1883 in Selb, Germany. Some experts compare it to some of the best German porcelain manufacturers. Even though they’ve been around for over 130 years, the firm’s products remain elusive to collectors because people who own pieces like them so much they tend to keep them.

Rosenthal originally started out founding a porcelain-painting business, but when he couldn’t get enough pieces to paint, he opened his own porcelain factory.

In 1881, there were four porcelain painters working for the company. By 1951 the number had grown to 6,000. Today, the Rosenthal firm owns two porcelain factories, the Selb and Rotbuhl both in Selb, and a ceramic factory in Kronach, plus several others not pottery related.

The Rosenthal family had a great interest in modern art. Philipp Rosenthal, son of Abraham, was a designer and his son together invited famous modern artists to collaborate in the development of both artistic porcelain and pieces for everyday use. In 1961, Rosenthal introduced the Studio Line, characterized by the simple lines modern design.

Rosenthal dining sets first appeared in 1900. Even though it was a new century, they were influenced by Victorian design and decoration. This dinnerware came in complete sets of 12, as was the custom of the time, including many pieces no longer included in today’s dinnerware sets. Back then sets included handled soup tureens, ragout bowls, fish dishes, fruit bowls on feet, salt and pepper cellars, blueberry bowls with saucers, chocolate plates, four sizes of coffeepots, three sizes of sugar bowls and cookie jars, as well as the usual dinner plates and cups and saucers. While the shapes of some pieces evolved over the years, some have remained unchanged, such as the pear-shaped coffeepot, the round teapot, and the oval  chocolate pot.

Early painted patterns included "Rococo/Louis XIV," 1892, made in Selb, "Gladstone" and "Moliere," both produced at Kronach factory in 1900. Art Nouveau style services included "Flora" in 1899, "Iris" in 1900 and "Botticelli" and "Donatello," both made at the Selb factory. The firm’s most successful dinnerware service, "Maria," appeared in 1914.

The challenge that collector’s face when identifying which Rosenthal pattern they have is that through the years Rosenthal placed hundreds of designs on the same shapes. While a collector may say he or she owns pieces of Donatello, for instance, what they actually have is Rosenthal’s Donatello shape. Artists rarely signed their decorations on Rosenthal china. The company mostly used a combination of transfers and hand painted details over top. Even the modern Studio Line with its incredibly bright colors is usually decorated with a transfer and then hand applied gold and other colors.

Rosenthal produced china using all the design innovations of the 20th century, including Art Deco, Bauhaus, and International Classicism in the 1920s and 1930s.

Today, collectors can purchase open stock of the exquisite "Suomi" pattern, designed by Timo Sarpaneva in 1976. Other artists who decorated "Suomi" included Salvador Dail and Victor Vasarely. Rosenthal has also developed a collector line of cups. The first was in the "Cupola" shape—each decorated by a different artist and boasting a diagonally mounted, grooved handle impossible to actually use. The second was a group of 10 espresso cups taken from the "Mythos" service, plus more than 30 artist cups. Rosenthal also produced limited edition Year Plates and Artist Plates designed by such artists as Roy Lichtenstein, Edna Hibel and LeRoy Neiman.

While Rosenthal produced some dinnerware sets in great quantity, putting them on the lower end of the value scale, there were special pieces painted by famous artists which sell for as high as $800 to $1,000.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the Victorians in the Winter 2018 Edition, "All Things Victorian," online now.  

The Luck 'O the Irish

QUESTION: I have two chairs that I’ve been told are Irish Chippendale. Both feature lion mask carvings on the knees of the front legs. Are these lion mask carvings rare on Irish furniture?

ANSWER: Before tackling whether your chairs are rare or not because of their lion mask motifs, let’s first define exactly what “Irish” Chippendale furniture is?

Most people think Thomas Chippendale designed and built his famous furniture. He definitely designed it and built some for wealthy clients, but mostly he’s known for his famous Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, a catalog of furniture patterns which included detailed drawings of all of his furniture design ideas, plus variations. Cabinetmakers all over the world bought the book and created their own versions of his designs based on the materials available in their locale and on the wishes of their wealthier customers.

Although Irish Chippendale is somewhat of a misnomer, the name which attaches to that peculiar style as well as its general contour comes from Thomas Chippendale It was the work of cabinetmakers in Ireland, and of those who made furniture for the Irish market at a time when Chippendale was influencing the furniture produced by his contemporaries. It was, however, apparently formulated to some extent independently, and even earlier than it was possible for the influence of Chippendale to have spread so far afield.

Chippendale based his designs on those of Queen Anne pieces, especially the cabriole leg. Since Ireland was under British rule in the 18th century, it’s possible that some of the wealthier Irish families imported pieces made by Chippendale in England. The evolution of the Irish Chippendale style was a gradual one. It didn’t just happen overnight. Eighteenth-century cabinetmakers all looked to each other for ideas, incorporating many of them into their designs. In addition, their clients often asked for particular features and motifs on the furniture they commissioned. The wealthy traveled and most likely experienced Chippendale’s designs where they visited, creating a demand for a Chippendale-related style in Ireland sooner than the popularity of the English cabinetmaker’s work would otherwise have done.

Whatever may have been the origin of the Irish Chippendale style, whether made in Dublin or in Irish provincial towns, such furniture had a sufficiently characteristic style running through it which gave it an individuality all its own. Some decorative arts historians believe that the Irish Chippendale style had a Dutch influence which shows in the somewhat heavy foliated carving of the rail, chiefly shown on the edge of tabletops.

Irish cabinetmakers captured the "spirit " of Chippendale in their designs, but for the most part they wrongly interpreted it. Also, many of the pieces show the features of the earlier Queen Ann and Jacobean styles. This indicates that many of the Irish cabinetmakers were unfamiliar with the Chippendale style as such and just added the features requested by their clients to their existing furniture designs.

The lion mask, a motif used from antiquity as an emblem of strength, courage, and majesty, is one such feature. The lion mask holding a ring in its mouth for a handle derives from ancient Roman furniture and continues to be popular as doorknocker even today. From the early to mid-18th century, the lion mask enjoyed popularity as a favored motif for furniture ornament, used as an arm rest support or to decorate the knee of a cabriole leg. Occasionally, a lion's paw or pelt appears alongside the mask. Thus the lion mask was a common facet of Irish Chippendale design.

Unlike other examples of furniture made in the Chippendale style, those pieces made in Ireland feature lion masks prominently in their design. Because much of Irish Chippendale furniture dates a bit before Thomas Chippendale published his catalog of furniture patterns, your chairs are most likely slightly older than furniture made in the traditional Chippendale style during the last half of the 18th century and not a rarity as you originally asked.

To learn more about Thomas Chippendale and his style of furniture, read "Chippendale---The Royalty of Antique Furniture" and "Chippendale Changed the Way Furniture Looked."

Step Right Up and Try Your Luck

QUESTION: I just inherited my mother’s collection of carnival glass. I always admired it while growing up, but she never really told me much about it. Now that I have it, I’d like to continue collecting, but I have no idea where to begin. Can you give me some background on carnival glass and also some tips on growing and maintaining my mother’s collection?

ANSWER: Carnival Glass is pressed glass—glass that has been formed by being pressed into a mold while in a hot molten form—that has had an iridescent coating applied. As it cools, it takes on the shape and detail of the mold. Once removed from the mold, and while still somewhat hot, the glassmaker sprays it with metallic salts in liquid form which gives it an "oil-on-water" multicolor appearance. He then refires the piece.

The Fenton Glass of Williamston, West Virginia, first produced carnival glass, which it called "iridescent ware," in 1907. The company called its first line Iridill and labeled it "Venetian Art."  They wanted to mass-produce a product that could compete with the expensive, iridescent art glass made by Tiffany and Steuben. Though half a dozen companies, including Northwood, Imperial, Millersburg, Westmoreland, Dugan, and Cambridge, originally made it, Fenton did so longer than any of the others.

Competition became so fierce between makers that new patterns appeared regularly, so each company ended up making a wide range of patterns of most types adding up to a panoply of choice.

Its eye-catching multicolor shimmer seems to change colors when viewed at different angles. Over the years, carnival glass has been dubbed "Taffeta," "Cinderella," and "Poor Man's Tiffany," as it gave the average housewife the ability to adorn her home with fancy vases and decorative bowls a prices she could afford.
   
But this new type of glass didn’t catch on with the public the way Fenton had hoped, especially since they tried pricing it higher than their regular pieces without the carnival finish. Unfortunately, most consumers didn't see carnival glass as quality glass and refused to pay higher prices for it. Other glass manufacturers soon began making carnival glass using the same iridization techniques. This overloaded the market and soon prices plummeted. To get rid of their excess inventory, carnival glass makers at first began giving it away to carnival owners to use as prizes, but later sold sample pieces to them in hopes that winners could then purchase additional items in the same or a similar pattern. Together all the manufacturers produced over 2,000 different patterns.

This new market for carnival glass was a boon for Fenton, which produced iridescent ware in 150 patterns up until the late 1920s. Carnival glass sold for pennies at five-and-dime stores, and businesses could buy it wholesale at minimal cost. This allowed movie theaters and grocery stores to give it away as premiums. For example, Imperial Glass struck lucrative deals with companies like Woolsworth's and Quaker Oats.

Fenton's earliest patterns included Waterlily and Cattails, Vintage, Butterfly and Berries, Peacock Tail, Ribbon Tie, Wreath of Roses, Thistle, and Diamond and Rib. Among Northwood's first glass patterns were Waterlily and Cattails, Cherry and Cable, and Valentine, but Grape and Cable became their most popular. Millersburg collectors look for Hobstar and Feather, Blackberry Wreath, and Rays and Ribbons.

Collectors call the most popular color of carnival glass “marigold,” although the companies, themselves, didn’t call it that. Marigold has a clear glass base and is the most easily recognizable carnival color. The final surface colors of marigold are mostly a bright orange-gold turning perhaps to copper with small areas showing rainbow or 'oil-slick' highlights. The highlights appear mostly on ridges in the pattern and vary in strength according to the light.

Carnival glass is highly collectible. Prices vary widely, with some pieces worth very little, while other, rare items command thousands of dollars.

However, identifying carnival glass can be a challenge. It involves matching patterns, colors, sheen, edges, and thickness from information contained in old manufacturer's trade catalogs, other known examples, or other reference material. Many manufacturers didn’t include a maker's mark on their product, and some did for only part of the time they produced the glass. Since many manufacturers produced close copies of their rivals' popular patterns, carnival glass identification can be difficult even for an expert.

By 1925, carnival glass started to fall out of favor with Americans, and many U.S. glass companies quit producing it during the Great Depression.