ABSTRACT
The floor is, in the first place, a flat surface, and as this surface is to be trod-den upon, and is to receive the objects which are placed upon it, practical reasons alone would demand that it be perfectly smooth and even. It follows that rugs with flowers, animals, and other objects worked in relief in worsted, such as are often seen nowadays, and are frequently given as tokens of friendship, are utterly inadmissible. Unfortunately, our modern carpet-weavers still endeavor to compel us to place our feet on lions, tigers, dogs, and other wild as well as tame animals. They also now and then spread out before us romantic love-scenes, such as tourists are wont to carry about on their carpet-bags. As a matter of course, the ornamentation of carpets is not limited to floral forms, nor does Orientalism so limit itself. It is the nature of his material which leads the mosaicist to geometrical ornament.
