SIZES.--They are the largest of the Turkoman rugs, being nearly always in carpet sizes and almost square, six to nine by eight to eleven feet.
REMARKS.--One of the best inexpensive rugs on the market. Coarser and heavier than the other Turkoman products and in damp weather they are liable to have more or less of the smell of goats. The Khiva is about the only antique carpet now on the market.
KNOT: Senna. Ten to the inch vertically and seven horizontally, making seventy to the square inch; unusually close for a rug of this class.
This piece is of an unusually fine grade with a long nap and beautiful colors. The field, like that of nearly all Khivas, is filled with conventional octagon and diamond forms with a small eight-pointed star between each.
SHORTELL RUG (page 120).--Prayer rugs of this particular class are extremely rare and the peculiar prayer niche in this one is certainly most unique and unusual. Note the hands in the two upper corners of the field. It is on these that the worshipper is supposed to place his hands while prostrating himself in the act of prayer.
WHY SO NAMED.--After the words "Bech Schehr," meaning "Five Villages," being woven in five adjoining villages west of Khiva on the shores of the Amour Daria River in Turkestan.
KNOT.--Either the Senna or the Ghiordes, usually the former. Number vertically five to ten; number horizontally six to twelve; number to the square inch thirty to one hundred twenty.
BORDERS.--Few stripes and narrow in proportion to the size of the rug. The designs are usually Tekke in character. The reciprocal saw teeth design is a feature.
ENDS.--A fairly wide web which is usually dyed red through which generally pass blue stripes or strands of colored yarn. Knotted or loose warp ends.
[Illustration: BESHIR BOKHARA RUG PROPERTY OF MR. L. A. SHORTELL, BOSTON, MASS.]
PREVAILING COLORS.--The free use of yellow is characteristic. Browns, brownish reds and blue with very little white, as a rule.
DESIGNS.--Those of the border are Tekke in character while those of the field are usually composed of tree motifs arranged in strips with alternating colored background. Caucasian and Mongol designs are commonly employed. Occasionally the field is filled with Chinese cloud bands.