The main aim of this blog is to share the passion for carpet weaving arts around the world. The articles published in this blog have a very generic character with no claims to academic authority.
A late 19th century Dagestan prayer design rug fragment.
The classic Caucasian niche motif is presented here upon a field of serrated lozenge lattice reminiscent of a honeycomb. This is further accentuated by the weaver’s choice of colours: brown in the background with yellow lattice lines. Each lozenge row features a distinct pattern. The Karbala stone crowns the main field as it is tucked neatly beneath the apex of the niche (mihrab).
The central design is framed by a rectangle composed of the oriental star motif presented in single columns on both sides and rows at the top and the bottom of the artifact (mostly missing). These are inscribed into oblique-stripes border guards.
The general composition of this work appears to be longer than most Dagestan rugs in prayer design whereas the length is nearly its double width.
Alberto Boralevi, an architect by profession and a passionate rug scholar ‘… noted that when he saw rugs hanging in their church locations in Transylvania, they were typically mounted on the wall, and that got him thinking that the rugs were woven for hanging, not for floor covering. This suggested a decorative purpose, rather than functional use for praying.’
Prayer rugs are rugs in ‘prayer design’ and they are different from prayer mats, at least, in size.
Can we however consider them decorative?
It is argued that prayer rugs, or rather rugs in prayer design, are part of religious art; they represent the sacred in a manner that is permitted by the strict canons of Islamic law.
Can such rugs though be viewed as votive art?
Spectacular works of art in prayer design were offered in
the past to mosques but that does not mean they were endowed with any religious
function.
Yağcıbedir rugs, all traditionally in prayer design, too, were commonly offered to mosques in villages in and around Belikesir province.
The so-called ‘Suleyman Seal’ which frequently appears in Yağcıbedir rugs is a motif symbolizing a supplication for a return to health.
Suleyman Seal also known as Suleyman Apple
In that sense therefore, at least Yağcıbedir prayer rugs may be regarded as votive art.
Understanding of symbols contained in tribal rugs is not always easy. These symbols go through various transformations and often appear only as abstract forms bearing little resemblance to what they were before.
A classic representation of the Tree of Life in the late 19th or early 2oth century Yagcedebir rug transmogrified over less than a century to become no more than a seemingly decorative motif .
Turn of the 19-20th century Yagcedebir rug section depicting the motif of the Tree of Life
In mid 20th century, the same motif begins to become more geometric but it is still recognizable as an image of a tree:
Mid 20th -centuery rendition of the Tree of Life motif in the Yagcedebir rug
Leter rugs from the same area (Balikirsir, west Anatolia) feature a very abstract form that barely resembles the original but it is also much easier to execute:
Recent production with the Tree of Life symbol recignizable mainly by its location within the rug
Many such motifs underwent similar processes becoming difficult to understand and/or interpret.
Often, only such heavily evolved and abstract motifs are known to younger generations of weavers.
For that very reason , tribal rugs can be only interpreted (understood) if compared to their predecessors (prototypes).
This process is often referred to as the degeneration of a motif or a symbol. Oftentimes, the level of simplification renders it unrecognizable to scholars as well as weavers.
Consequently, weavers may use such distorted symbols in wrong contexts or simply devoid them of their symbolic weight.
This is a very old and interesting design found in kilim
prayer rugs from towns and villages around Konya.
This particular one, once in the collection of late Sonny
Berntsson, is believed to originate from
Seydishehir.
The design of this kilim is locally referred to as ‘bacali’
from the Turkish word ‘baca’ meaning a chimneystack, and it most often consists
of five serrated (stepped) prayer niches atop each other; each niche marked by
seven steps on each side.
The upward direction of the niche (the so-called mihrab)
represents the symbolic ascend to Heaven. That is quite common in most
Anatolian prayer rugs with number seven – the seventh step – representing the
seventh Heaven.
There is presumably however another numerological aspect to
this design i.e. the number of niches or mihrabs.
The accession to Heaven is possible through prayer as it is
evidenced in the actual use of smaller prayer mats often confused with these
larger adoration pieces.
The ‘bacali’ design seems to imply more: we can possibly
assume that the five niches represent the five pillars of Islam of which five
daily prayers are an integral part.
Thus apart from its unquestionable beauty, Sonny Bertsson’s kilim bears a profound religious weight for all those who see their salvation/redemption in Islam.
Colour Symbols and Motifs in Yağcıbedir Rugs and their Meaning
The Yağcıbedir rugs are named after the Yörük (Turkoman) Yayci-Bedirlu tribe which settled in south eastern Anatolian Adana province many centuries ago. It is believed they arrived there ‘… with the first wave of wandering shepherd folk, content to seek new pastures, and before the second wave of the conquerors… ‘, the Seljuk invasion and the 1071 Battle of Manzikert.
Eventually, owing to the Ottoman demographic policies aimed at increasing the Muslim population in the predominantly Greek Orthodox Christian part of Asia Minor, the tribe was relocated to Balekesir province on the Aegean coast.
Turn-of-the-20th century doule niche rug SOLD Formerly in our collection
Yağcıbedir rugs are made in the villages of Eşmedere, Çakıllı, Karakaya, Eğridere, Alakır and Kayalıdere in the Sındırgı Valley
There are four principal colours in most Yağcıbedir rugs,
and dyes are exclusively organic: dark blue, which forms the ground colour of most
Yağcıbedir rugs, red, dark red and white.
The rich deep dark blue which symbolizes the sky is obtained
from the root of the labada plant (sorel family).
Red, the colour of henna represents the expectation of fertility. It is
obtained from the local Sarikiz plant and the madder root.
White means the joy and the longing to be a bride; it is mainly used by young
girls.
Rugs with white background colour are mainly produced in Eğridere and Alakır villages.
Mid- to late-20th c. rug from Eğridere or Alakır village.
The rare brown which is obtained from the pomegranate or by adding bush cones to the second water of red represents the cyclical aspect of life; all living things come from the soil and return to the soil.
Early 20th c. prayer rug
Black appears in the Yağcıbedir rugs sporadically. Black is
sadness. It is used by older women.
It is obtained by boiling soft black rocks with herbs.
Black cannot be found in rugs from the villages of Eğridere and Alakır.
Most Yağcıbedir rugs feature seven borders surrounding the central composition which reflects the idea that the sky having seven floors.
‘In religious or
mythological cosmology, the seven heavens refer to seven levels or divisions of
the Heavens (Heaven). The concept, also
found in the ancient Mesopotamian religions, can be found in Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam …’ (Wikipedia)
The niche or the stepped mihrab typically crowned with ram’s horns (masculinity symbol) is an indispensable motif in all Yağcıbedir rugs.
The motifs of the niche, which is frequent in Islamic art,
it is often argued, evolved out of more ancient and universal motif of the Tree
of Life.
The Tree of Life frequently found in Yağcıbedir rugs reflects
the hopes and expectation of a better future.
There are three stars which often surround the niche. The star in the middle (within the niche) represents the sun and the other two stars represent the moon. The sun is the star that gives life to the world. The moon is the illuminator of the night.
Mühr-ü Süleyman (Solomon’s seal): it is often locally called “Haci Huseyin Elmasi or Hadji Husein Apple” . It is made for good luck.
Frequency of that motif on the rug indicates that the weaver felt sadness or someone from her family was ill.
The Sycamore Leaf is usually found on the edges of the star in the middle; it is the longest-lived tree in region. It is used as a motif mainly in the carpets from Eşmedere and Çakilli villages.
Meanings of many subtle motifs found in the Yağcıbedir rugs are
lost, and it is hoped that more studies within and without the region will reveal
their significance.
The Yağcıbedir rugs are all fine quality rugs with 30-35 loops per 1 sq. cm. The knot is Turkish (Görde knot) and the pile is cropped short.
The article focuses on the textile arts of the Kungrat Uzbeks in the southern regions of Uzbekistan. This important group has been insufficiently studied in the past and their textiles have sometimes been wrongly attributed to other groups. Based on field-research, the author provides insights into the original Kungrat textile arts in – cluding the crafting of carpets, felts and small embroidered household items with their unique designs and styles. Kungrat textile arts reflect the nomadic past of Tur – kic peoples, for instance in their similarities to Kyrgyz, Kazakh or Turkmen traditions of carpet weaving. They do, however, also feature traces of the history of contact and interaction with local sedentary communities (Uzbeks and Tajiks) and their textile traditions, particularly those of embroidery.
Talish rugs are works of the ethically Persian Talish people inhabiting territories in north-west Iran and Azejberjan, formerly Talish khanate.
Talish people speak their own language, and in the context of the Caucasus, they constitute a distinct group with a complex history; their works are as distinct as their ethnicity.
Talish long runner-like (wedding) rugs are perhaps the most recognizable within the large spectrum of all Caucasian rugs, but Talish rugs come also in more traditional forms. Only a closer look at the material and the construction may allow experts to tell a Talish from rugs from Kazak, or Genje
While the field (the so-called Talish) is most of the time plain, some Talish rugs feature complex floral patterns framed by the usual four borders.
A rare Talish in our collection
The 19th century Talish rugs are nearly all wool constructs; the wefts (side to side cords), are, more often than not double, made of cotton, usually grey.
The warps (up
and down cords) consist of two twisted plies of undyed beige (yarn) and brown wool.
The selvages are often
blue overcast on the typical Caucasian double-step cord finish.
The knot is symmetrical
(Ghiordes)
Antique Talish rugs are rare; some are erroneously attributed to other Caucasian schools, they are highly collectable.
Turkmen Carpets Masterpieces of Steppe Art, from 16th to 19th Centuries The Hoffmeister Collection
Peter Hoffmeister of Dörfles-Esbach, near Coburg in Germany, has been collecting, cleaning, studying, lecturing and writing about the traditional rugs and carpets of the Turkoman tribes of Central Asia for forty years. In that time he has assembled one of the largest, best and widest-ranging private collections of antique and historic Turkmen knotted-pile weavings in Western Europe and the Americas, rivalling the holdings of major museums in the West and in Russia, as well as in Turkmenistan itself.
In late 18th-Century Europe, a new fashion led to an international scandal. In fact, an entire social class was accused of appearing in public naked.
(Image credit: Drik/ Bengal Muslin)
The culprit was Dhaka muslin, a precious fabric imported from the city of the same name in what is now Bangladesh, then in Bengal.
It was not like the muslin of today. Made via an elaborate, 16-step process with rare cotton that only grew along the banks of the holy Meghna river, the cloth was considered one of the great treasures of the age.
It had truly global patronage, stretching back thousands of years – deemed worthy of clothing statues of goddesses in ancient Greece, countless emperors from distant lands, and generations of local Mughal royalty.
Dhaka muslin was also more than a little
transparent.
Still, Dhaka muslin was a hit – with those who could afford it. It was the most expensive fabric of the era, with a retinue of dedicated fans that included the French queen Marie Antoinette, the French empress Joséphine Bonaparte and Jane Austen. But as quickly as this wonder-cloth struck Enlightenment Europe, it vanished.
Many of the skills needed to make Dhaka muslin have been lost which makes matching the quality of the fabric a challenge
