'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎523] (614/748)

REVENUE, RESOURCES, AND MANUFACTURES 623
classes, viz., silk, woollen, or cotton tissues, and artistic fabrica
tions. Broadly speaking, factories, as the term is understood and
Manufac- use( l Europe, do not exist in Persia; and the multiplica-
tures ^ on an d economy of labour-force, by the employment
of steam-power, or even of water-power, is hardly known. The
country has indeed been famous in times past for its industrial and
.artistic products, and, even in the decadence of native ingenuity,
consequent upon the importation of cheap European substitutes,
.still retains traces of the ancient skill; but these manufactures
were then, as they still remain, the output of private workshops,
cr the production of particular schools. In no country have I
found trade more localised, not merely by the cheapness in a
particular neighbourhood of the primary substance, but also by
long tradition and local custom. Almost every town of any size
can boast its own speciality, which it is impossible to procure
•elsewhere. Associations of workmen, or a species of elementary
guild, exist in every manufacturing centre; and by these are
regulated the habits and customs of the trade.
Of the textile fabrics, by far the most important and best
known are the Persian carpets, which have attained so wide a
celebrity that the upper-class householder in England or
Carpets America is rare who does not think the acquisition ol
such an article, whether genuine or spurious, an indispensable
testimony both to culture and to civilisation. Who that has once
seen them can ever forget the imperishable colours, mellowed
but uneffaced by time, the exquisite designs, and the predominant
grace, of the genuine old Persian carpet ? And who that has ever
made such a study does not experience a pang at sight of the
modern usurper that so frequently claims to bear the honoured
name ? The true Persian carpets have always been, and still are,
•entirely hand-made, being stretched on frames, either upright or
♦ horizontal, and, among the nomad tribes, being invariably worked
by the women. 1 The varieties are considerable, and are marked by
the strongest individual characteristics, so much so that it is im
possible to mistake the products of different provinces or districts.
1 The men receive the orders, buy the wool, and get it dyed accordiDg to pat
tern ; the women and girls do the work, three or four being employed upon a
carpet of ordinary size. Every stitch is separately woven, a good carpet contain
ing 10,000 stitches to the square foot, the very best 40,000. A single loom will
give three or four carpets of ordinary size in the year; slow weavers will spend
one or two years over one carpet.