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aba (Arabic). A striped fabric or a sleeveless, loose outer garment. Also, a heavy wool cloth.
Abadah. See “Abâdeh.”
Abâdeh, Abadah. A town in southwestern Iran on the highway be tween Isfahan and Shiraz. Some rugs woven in this town have designs similar to Persian city rugs. Others copy local tribal rugs. Knot density is about 80 to 160 symmetric knots per square inch on a cotton foundation. Wefts are sometimes dyed blue. See “Iran.”
Abâdeh carpet Dilmaghani & Co.
Abbas I, Shah. Abbas I, called “the Great,” shah of Persia, reigned from 1587 to 1629. In wars with the Uzbeks, Ottoman Turks, and Portuguese, he consolidated the dominion of Persia from the Tigris to the Indus. His reign was distinguished by a magnificent court, the construction of mosques and public buildings, and a great expansion of commerce. He established workshops which produced carpets for his palaces and for state gifts. Approximately 300 silk carpets woven during or shortly after his reign have survived. Most of these silk carpets have been attributed to Isfahan and Kashan. See “Iran,” “Polonaise carpets,” and “Vase carpets.”
Abbasid caliphate. Caliphs ruling at Baghdad from 750 to 1258 C. E. who claimed descent from Abbas, uncle of Muhammad.
Abkhazia. An area of the northwestern Caucasus inhabited by the Abkhaz, a sub-group of the Circassians. They are Sunni Muslims and may have been a very minor source of nineteenth-century Caucasian pile rugs. See “Caucasus.”
abr (Persian). Sky-blue, cloud. Also, Persian for ikat fabrics. See “ikat.”
abrash (Arabic, “dappled, piebald”). A change in color in the field and border of pile rugs due to differences in wool or dye batches. Abrash may develop as different dye batches in a rug fade at different rates. The color change extends across the rug, weft-wise. Abrash is more likely to occur at the top of a rug than at the bottom, as beginning yarn batches are used up. Abrash is sometimes imitated in new commercial production of hand-knotted and power-loomed rugs.
Abrash in a Bakshaish rug (detail) Alberto Levi
abrisham, abrishom (Persian). Silk.
Abruzzi. A district of central Italy. From the seventeenth century, Abruzzi has been the source of flatwoven furniture covers and hand-knotted rugs. These are woven on narrow looms. Designs are usually geometricized floral, animal, or heraldic motifs. See “Italy.”
acanthus. A plant of the Mediterranean area having toothed leaves, Acanthus spinosus, Acanthus mollis. Stylized representations of the acanthus leaf are familiar as architectural ornamentation and have been recognized in some oriental rug designs. Acanthus leaves are a common motif in Savonnerie rugs.
Acanthus leaves Savonnerie rug (detail)
accessory fabric. A fabric superimposed (appliqué or quilted), inlaid, or seamed to a ground fabric.
accessory objects. Non-fabric objects attached to a fabric. In tribal weavings, such accessory objects as beads, sea shells, bells, bones, feathers, buttons, or coins are sometimes attached to the fabric as non-functional decorative or shamanistic additions.
Uzbek bag with accessory objects R. John Howe
accessory stitches. Functional or decorative stitches in a fabric that include flat stitches, looped stitches, and knot stitches.
acrylic. A synthetic fiber of acrylonitrile. Acrylic may be dyed before extrusion as filaments to be spun. When dyed in this manner, acrylic is very color-fast. It is static-free and stain resistant. Acrylic is used as a substitute for wool, but is not resistant to crushing.
Achaemenian dynasty. Rulers of ancient Persia from about 550 B.C.E. to 331 B.C.E. Certain designs in the Pazyryk carpet are very similar to decorative motifs used in Achaemenian architecture. See “Pazyryk carpet.”
acid dyes. Dyes derived from coal tar through the action of nitric acid. They produce bright colors in animal fibers. They are soluble in water and must be used in an acid solution. The first such dye was Bismarck brown developed in 1862. See “basic dyes” and “dye, synthetic.”
A.C.O.R., American Conference on Oriental Rugs. An association of approximately 25 local rug societies. Its goal has been to present a national oriental rug conference every two years. These conferences have included seminars, exhibitions, and sales of rugs of interest to collectors.
A.D. (Latin Anno Domini, “In the year of our Lord”). The year counted from the time of Christ, a system of date designation generally used by western countries. See “A.H.,” “C.E.,” “Islamic dates,” and “Gregorian date.”
Ada-Milas. The peninsula south of Milas in southwestern Anatolia. The area is a source of prayer rugs and rugs with a narrow, vertical, central panel containing a highly abstract tree-of-life design. The field is filled with repeated geometric figures in brownish red.
Adam. A style of architectural and interior decoration in vogue from about 1765 through 1790. The Adam brothers were architects in England whose decorative style consisted of motifs drawn from Roman, Pompiian, and Etruscan work. Ovals, octagons, fans, wreaths, garlands, and medallion shapes were common features of their decoration. Rugs were made to the designs of the Adam brothers in Moorfields, England. Often these rug designs reflected the paneled relief ceilings of the rooms in which the rugs were to be used. Colors were gray, light blue, and jasper. See “Moorfields.”
Adana. A town of south central Anatolia, and a source of multi-panel kilims. Adana is a trading center for rugs. See “Turkey.”
Adana kilim Simon Knight
Adıyaman. A city of eastern Anatolia and a source of tülüs and Kurdish rugs. See “Turkey.”
Adler Kazak. See “Chelaberd.”
Admiral carpets. Carpets of fifteenth-century Spain with armori al bearings of the hereditary admiral of Castile. Many of these carpets bear the arms of the Enriquez family. The field is a lattice of octagons containing geometricized blossoms, with a few containing geometricized birds or animals. Heraldic shields are arranged on this field. These rugs are all wool with the Spanish knot. See “Spain” and “Williams Admiral Carpet.”
Adraskand. A town of western Afghanistan, south of Herat, in a district that is a source for kilims and pile rugs woven by Pashtun and Baluchi peoples. See “Afghanistan.”
Afghan. A trade term for certain Turkmen carpets of the Ersari tribe. These are main carpets, coarsely woven, with the gulli gul design and are about 8 feet by 10 feet. Also, a woven or knitted coverlet (general usage). A native of Afghanistan. See “Ersari.”
Afghanistan. A country of Central Asia bordered by Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, and Pakistan. About 75 percent of the population is Sunni Muslim. Rugs are woven by native Afghans (Pashtun) and by Turkmen tribes, most of whom migrated to Afghanistan in the 1920s. These tribes include Ersari, Tekke, Yomud, and Sariq. There is some rug production from Baluchi and Uzbek peoples in Afghanistan. Pile rug production consists largely of pieces with traditional Turkmen guls and geometric designs in shades of red. A wide variety of flatweaves is produced along with bags, animal trappings, and other special-function tribal weavings.
Rug export from Afghanistan increased in the 1970s with the large-scale production of lower-quality rugs. Afghani stan carpets that are single-wefted and without offset warps may be termed yaktâr and those that are double-wefted with offset warps may be termed dotâr. Soviet Russian troops occupied Afghanistan in December of 1979 in support of a communist régime. Armed resistance to the occupying forces and to the civil government involved much of the rural population. Soviet troops withdrew in February of 1989 and the communist régime was defeated in May of 1992. Warfare resumed in 2002 with the United States incursion into Afghanistan. Rug production, marketing, and distribution were disrupted by warfare. Most descriptions of rug production and marketing centers refer to conditions in prewar Aghanistan. See “Afghanistan war rugs.”
Afghanistan
There are entries under the following Afghanistan geographic names:
| Adraskand | Kabul |
| Alti Bolaq | Khairabad |
| Andkhoy | Kunduz |
| Aq Chah | Labijar |
| Babaseqal | Laghari |
| Balkh | Lokari |
| Barmazid | Maimana |
| Behsud | Maurchaq |
| Chakhansur | Qaisar |
| Charshango | Qala-i Nau |
| Chichaktu | Qala-i Zal |
| Daulatabad | Qarqin |
| Ghorian | Samangân |
| Ghormaj | Sar-e Pol |
| Herat | Sharkh |
| Jengal Arjuk | Shebergân |
Afghanistan war rugs. Beginning with Baluchi weavers in Herat, rugs were woven with weapons and war imagery shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The earliest of these rugs showed a few weapons within traditional fields and borders. In later rugs, war imagery displaced most traditional motifs in the field. Finally, in the latest rugs, both traditional field and border motifs were displaced completely by war imagery. See “Baluchi.”
Kabul Khairabad Kunduz Labijar Laghari Lokari Maimana Maurchaq Qaisar Qala-i Nau Qala-i Zal Qarqin Samangân Sar-e Pol Sharkh Shebergân
Afghanistan war rug (detail) Smithsonian
afshan, avshan (Persian afshân, “scattered”). An all-over design found in Caucasian, Indian, Persian, and Turkish rugs. It consists of stylized, right-angle blossom cups or calyxes on a stem surrounded by florets.
Afshan motifs
Kuba rug with afshan motif Hagop Manoyan
Afshar, Avşar. A Turkic tribe (called “Turkmen” in earlier histories) with scattered groups in Turkey, the Caucasus, and Iran. The largest group is located in Iran south of Kerman. There are both nomadic and village pieces produced by the tribe. Structural characteristics of their pile weaves include primarily wool foundation with pink or orange wefts and warp offset. Twentieth-century Afshar rugs may have a cotton foundation. Rugs of the Afshars are squarish with increasingly geometricized designs in later rugs. There is great variation in rug design, but one of the most common is a floral central medallion with floral spandrels and an opposing vase of flowers at the top and bottom of the rug. Afshars produce flatweaves in slit tapestry, soumak, weft substitution, and double interlocking weft structures. See “DaHaj,” “rakhat,” and “Sirjân.”
Afshar rug John Collins
aft rang. See “haft rang.”
Afyon (Turk., “opium”). A town of central Anatolia now referred to as Karahisar. It is a source of rugs similar to those of Konya. See “Karahisar.”
age in rugs. See “dating rugs.”
agedyna (Swedish). A Flemish type weaving. A flatwoven, long cushion used in carriages and sleighs and on short benches. See “rölaken.”
Agedyna Peter Willborg
Agra. An ancient city of north central India and former capital of the Mughal Empire. Carpet workshops were in production in Agra in 1619. After the partition of India in 1947, many Muslim weavers immigrated to Pakistan. The industry has recovered, and presently there is an active carpet-weaving industry in Agra. Some rugs are woven by prisoners of the Agra Central Jail. See “India.”
Agra rug Doris Leslie Blau
A.H. See “Anno Hegirae.”
Ahar, Ahjar. A town in the Heriz region of northwest Iran. A designation of fine weave or curvilinear design in Heriz rugs. Contemporary rugs of Ahar have medallions and spandrels. The symmetric knot is used at a density of about 65 per square inch on a cotton foundation. The wefts may be blue. Single-wefted rugs of the Heriz area may be termed “Ahar.” See “Iran.”
Ahmedabad. Formerly a rug-weaving center in west central India. There is no significant current production. See “India.”
Ahura Mazda. See “Zoroastrianism.”
Aibak. See “Samangân.”
Aimaq, Chahar Aimaq (Turk. or Mongol, “four tribes”). Four semi-nomadic tribes of partly Turko-Mongol origin inhabiting Afghanistan and Iran: the Hazara, Firozkohi, Jamshidi, and Taima ni. See entries under these names. Some of these tribes are noted for their rug production. Their weavings are sometimes confused with those of the Baluch. See "Afghanistan," "Mushwani," and "Timuri."
Aimaq (Jamshidi) rug Michael Craycraft
aina gul, mirror gul (Persian âyena, “mirror”). A Turkmen gul consisting of a quartered diamond in a rectangle or a stepped diamond within a regular diamond within a rectangle. These are termed “compartment guls.”
Aina gul After Moshkova
Ainabad. See “Bibikabad.”
aina-kotchak. See “kochak.”
aina khalata. Small mirror bag.
Ainalu. A tribe of the Khamseh Confederacy of southwest Iran. See “Khamseh Confederacy.”
Aintab, Aintap. See “Gaziantep.”
ajdaha, ejderha, (Persian azhdahâ, “dragon”). A dragon motif in Persian rugs, usually reduced to an “S” shape or “Z” shape. It is common in borders as overlapping or sequential “S” or “Z” shapes. See “dragon and phoenix” and “S-borders.”
ak, aq (Turk.) White.
ak chuval. A joval with a white ground pile skirt and white flatwoven stripes. See “joval.”
Ak Chuval Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Steven Price
Akhisar (Turk. ak hisar, “white castle”). A town of northwest Anatolia. The town is a minor source of prayer rugs in red and orange. Small pompons may be attached to the selvedge. Kilim ends may be ornamented with pile buttons. See “Turkey.”
Ak Karaman. A breed of fat-tailed sheep of central and east Anatolia.
Aksaray. A town of central Anatolia and a center of Turkmen carpet weaving during the Seljuk period. Aksaray is a source of kilims. Often, there is a design offset between the two halves of these kilims. See “Turkey.”
Aksaray kilim (detail)
Aksaray yastik R. John Howe
Akşehir (Turk., white town). A town of western Anatolia and a rug weaving center in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
aksi (Persian, “pictorial”). Used to describe rugs with a pictorial emphasis rather than a design emphasis. See “pictorial rug” and “war rugs.”
Akstafa, Akstafa peacock. The town of Akstafa and the river Akstafa are located in the Transcaucasus. The Akstafa peacock motif is a geometricized bird with an elaborate tail. As a design element, it is found on rugs of Shirvân in the Caucasus and in Turkish rugs. Akstafa design rugs of nineteenth-century Shirvân are woven with the symmetric knot at a density of about 107 knots per square inch. Average size is about 34 square feet. Warps are wool and wefts may be cotton or wool. See “Shirvân.”
Akstafa peacock
Akstafa rug Sothebys
ak-su (Turk. “white water”). A repeated design motif consisting of interlocking quadrilaterals with projections.
Torba with ak-su motif Sothebys
Ak-su motif
ak yup (Turk.). White tent band.
alachiq. A domed felt tent of the Moghân Shahsavan.
ala chuval. Anatolian flatwoven storage bags. These bags are made in pairs. Designs are woven in horizontal or vertical panels. Sizes are about 2 feet to 4 feet high and about 20 inches to 30 inches wide. The bag is open on a short side. See “joval.”
Anatolian brocaded ala chuval (opened up) Hugh Rance
alam. See “elem.”
Alamdâr. A village of the Hamadan area in northwest Iran. The village is a source of rugs with a geometric Herati pattern on a blue field.
Alanya. A coastal town of south central Anatolia and a minor source of rugs and kilims. See “Turkey.”
alasa, alasha. In Kazakhstan, a flatwoven rug consisting of woven bands sewn together. See “gadzhari” and “jijim.”
Albania. Since World War II, a source of contemporary, very well-made pile rugs with Persian designs.
alcatif (Portuguese alcatifa from Arabic al-qatif(a), “velvet, plush”). An archaic term for rugs of India.
Alcaraz. A textile and rug-weaving center in Spain from the fifteenth to the mid-seventeenth centuries. Spanish wreath design, armorial carpets, ogival lattice carpets, and copies of Holbein rugs are attributed to Alcaraz. See “Spain” and “wreath carpets.”
Alcaraz rug (detail) Jason Nazmiyal
alem. See “elem.”
Aleppo, Halep. A city of northwest Syria, now called Haleb. It was formerly in southeast Anatolia and an administrative center during the Ottoman period. In the last half of the nineteenth century many kilims were woven in this area. They were used as curtains and wall hangings. These kilims were woven in two pieces. Cochineal was used in many of these kilims. Borders are usually white with a repeated winged or hourglass figure. Diamonds and octagons are the primary repeated field motif. Some of the kilims are woven with the sandıklı or compartment motif.
Aleppo rug (detail) Peter Willborg
Algeria. A country of North Africa. Algerian rugs are similar to those of Morocco and Tunisia. Sétif is a town southeast of Algiers that is noted for its rug production. Pile rugs are all-wool and woven with the symmetric knot. Traditionally, pile rugs are woven by men (reggema) with women as assistants. Currently, women are designing and weaving pile rugs. There are a few pile rug types unique to Algeria. These are the Algerian qtif and tanchra with uncut looped pile and the frach and Kalâa pile carpets with large flatwoven ends. See “frach,” “Guergour carpets,” “Kalâa,” “Maadid tribe,” “metrah,” “qtif,” “reggema,” “tanchra,” and “zerbiya.”
The flatweaves of Algeria are similar to those of Tunisia. The melgout, hamel, tag, and draga are flatwoven tent dividers used in different ways. Blankets (hambel), flatwoven carpets, sacks, shawls (ddil), and saddle blankets (dokkala) are also woven.
Algeria
Ali Eli. A subtribe of the Ersari in the area of the Amu Darya river.
alınık (Turk., “place where the forehead meets the ground during prayer”). In a prayer rug, a panel above a mihrab that may contain a Koranic inscription. See “elem.”
Alınık
alizarin (from Spanish alizari, “madder,” from Arabic al-’asâra, “juice, extract”). A primary active agent in the dye derived from madder, an anthraquinone that produces shades of red in combination with metals. It provides a red component of the dye. Alizarin was produced synthetically in 1870. A variety of dyes of different colors were developed from compounds of aliza rin. See “madder.”
alloucha. A pile carpet of Tunisia in white, beige, brown, and gray. This rug was formerly woven of naturally colored wools. See “Tunisia.”
all-over pattern field repeat. A design in the field of a rug consisting of vertically and horizontally repeated geometrical or floral elements. Usually, the pattern is interrupted or cut off by the borders. Sometimes borders awkwardly interrupt the pattern. Such rugs may suggest that the weaver has a mental image of an infinitely repeated pattern with an arbitrary segment framed by the border. See “boteh,” “gul,” “Herati pattern,” “lattice,” “minâ khâni,” “mir-i boteh,” and “Lotto.”
alpaca. A domesticated South American ruminant related to the lama. It has long silky wool used in South American weaving.
alpaca
Alpan Kuba. A design of rugs from nineteenth-century Kuba in the Caucasus that may be a simplified version of either the Seishour Cross or the Kasim Ushag design. A medallion is surrounded by four elongated hexagons. See “Kuba.”
Alpan Kuba rug (detail) Richard Rothstein & Co.
Alpujarra rug Grogan & Company
Alpujarra. Alpujarra means “grassland.” The term refers to rugs first woven in Alpujarra in the province of Granada, Spain. These rugs were first woven in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries during the Moorish period and continued to be woven into the nineteenth century. They have a coarsely-woven looped pile and are very heavy. Usually, a separately produced elaborate fringe was attached to all four sides of the rug. Often, the date and name of the person for whom the rug was woven was included in the design. Designs were simple floral and animal motifs. Often, only two colors were used. Later rugs of Alpujarra include Christian symbols. See “Spain.”
Altai culture, Altay culture. Altai is an area of Inner Asia taking its name from the Altai mountains. From the second millennium B.C.E., the area has been inhabited by cattle-rearing nomads and agriculturists. Many objects employing distinctive stylized animal motifs of wood, bone, bronze, and gold have been found in burial sites. Felts, fabrics, and pile rugs have also been found at these sites. In the eastern Altai, a pile rug was discovered at Pazyryk that has been radiocarbon-dated to about 500 to 300 B.C.E. See “Pazyryk carpet.”
Altaic gold deer of the same period as the Pazyrik carpet
Alti Bolaq. A village of north central Afghanistan near the Turkmen border. The village is a source of rugs woven by Ersa ris. The rugs are double-wefted and the asymmetric knot is used.
alum mordant. Aluminum sulfate (and sometimes potassium sulfate) are both called alum. These water-soluble salts are used in dyeing as a mordant. With many dyes, they produce lighter colors than tin or chrome mordants.
Alvand. See “Qazvin.”
Amaleh. A subtribe of the Qashqa’i of southwest Iran, noted for its kilims. See “Qashqa’i.”
American Conference on Oriental Rugs. See “A.C.O.R.”
American Indian rugs. See “Navajo rugs,” “Pueblo weaving,” and “Rio Grande blankets.”
Ames Pictorial Rug. This Mughal rug, a gift of Mrs. F. L. Ames, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It shows scenes from the hunt, domestic scenes, and mythological beasts. The border includes grotesque faces. This rug is thought to be a copy of a painting. It was woven in the first half of the seventeenth century and is eight feet by five feet.
Ames Pictorial Rug (detail)
Amo Oghli, Amoghli, Emoghli. An early 20th-century rug workshop owner, rug weaver, and rug designer of Mashhad, Iran. “See Mashhad.”
Amritsar (Sanskrit, “lake of immortality”). A city of the Punjab in northwest India, the major Sikh center. Rug manufacturing began in Amritsar in about 1860, using unemployed shawl weavers. Early production copied Turkmen designs. Production in Amritsar declined during the depression in the 1920s and during the partition of India, but has since recovered. Currently, floral designs are woven based on Persian models. The asymmetric knot is used. Contemporary rugs have a knot density of about 200 to 400 knots per square inch. See “India.”
Amritsar rug Jason Nazmiyal
AMTORG. Acronym for American Trading Organization, an export-import company representing Soviet Russian interests in the United States. The company was active from about 1926 to 1937, exporting commodities to the United States and importing machinery to Russia. From 1926 to about 1930, AMTORG exported old Caucasian and Turkmen rugs to the U.S. After 1931, it exported five-year plan rugs to the U.S. See “five-year plan rugs.”
Amu Darya. A river (the ancient Oxus) near the northern boundary of Afghanistan and the southern boundary of Turkmenistan. Several different Turkmen tribes live along this river. These include the Ersari, Salor, Saryk, and Tekke.
amulet. See “muska.”
analysis. See “technical analysis” and “dye analysis.”
Anatolia. A peninsula between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea constituting Asiatic Turkey or Asia Minor. The rug-weaving population includes Turkmen, Yörük, and Kurdish peoples. Armenian and Greek peoples in Anatolia also wove rugs. Anatolian rugs are the products of workshops such as those of Ushak, Kayseri, and Bandirma, of nomadic Kurds and Yörük, and of thousands of villages scattered through Anatolia. The foundation and pile are wool with very few exceptions. Warps are undyed and 2-ply “S” twist; wefts are unplied. The symmetric knot is used consistently. Except in a few rugs of central and east Anatolia, there is no warp offset. Pile rug weaving is an ancient craft of Anatolia. There are fragments of thirteenth-century rugs woven during the Seljuk period. See “Turkey.”
andhani. A camel’s head covering of Pakistan.
Andhra Pradesh. A province of southern India (capital, Hyderabad) and the location of several weaving centers. See “Ellore,” “India,” “Masulipatam,” and “Warangal.”
Andkhoy. A town of north central Afghanistan near the Turkmen border. The town is a collecting point and market for rugs made in the area, primarily woven by Ersaris. Most of these rugs are based on Turkmen designs in shades of red, indigo, and white. The asymmetric knot is used. Usually, these rugs are double-wefted. Typical rug sizes are about 5 feet by 6 feet and 9 feet by 12 feet.
angle of twist. A measure of the tightness to which yarn is twisted in spinning. The angle between the longitudinal axis of the yarn and the plane of the fibers in a single or the plane of the last ply in plied or cabled yarns. The direction of spin is taken into account when measuring this angle. A twist angle of about 5 degrees is a soft-spun yarn; 20 degrees is a medium-spun yarn; and 30 to 45 degrees is a hard-spun yarn. Crêpe spun yarns crinkle and have an angle of twist of 65 degrees or more. See “twist.”
Angle of twist
Angora goat
Angora goat. A goat of Turkish origin and the source of mohair, a long, coarse, and lustrous fiber. See “mohair.”
Anhalt Medallion Carpet. A sixteenth-century carpet of northwest Persia. It formerly belonged to the Dukes of Anhalt of Dessau and is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This carpet is in excellent condition. It has a circular lobed medallion with pendants on a yellow field of arabesques with leaves, blossoms, and palmettes. Among the arabesques are peacocks with plumage displayed. It has a knot density of 400 asymmetric knots per square inch. The warp is cotton and the weft is silk. The size of this rug is 26 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 7 inches.
aniline dyes. Direct dyes derived from aniline, which is in turn a derivative of coal tar. The first such dye, mauve, was invented by Perkin in 1856. By 1870, aniline dyes were inexpensive and widely used. Some of the aniline dyes used in rugs were not colorfast. See “acid dyes,” “basic dyes,” and “synthetic dyes.”
animal carpet. Any carpet design including animal motifs. More particularly, Persian and Indo-Persian rugs with representations of a variety of animals in the field of the rug. See “Animal Carpet of Leopold I,” “animal motifs,” “hunting carpets,” “Sackville Mughal Animal and Tree Carpet,” and “Widener Animal Carpet.”
Animal carpet (detail)
Animal Carpets of Leopold I, Emperor. A pair of late sixteenth-century Persian carpets given to the Austrian Emperor Leopold I by Peter the Great of Russia. The field is red and filled with animals in combat, cloud bands, blossoms, and palmettes. The inner minor border contains lines from a poem. The knot density is 320 asymmetric knots per square inch. Warps are cotton and wefts are silk. The size of the rugs is 11 feet 6 inches by 24 feet 4 inches. One rug is in Vienna and the other is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
animal head motif, animal head column. A motif also known as “latch hooks” consisting of a triangle offset on a column. The animal head sometimes possesses an eye. A short line may trail from the point of the triangle. This motif may be repeated in rows or columns and as a border or medallion outline. This motif is common in tribal and Turkic weavings.
Animal head motif and columns
animal motifs. A very wide range of animals has been used in oriental rug designs. Animals have been represented naturalistically, as in the Persian hunting carpets. Through progressive stylization and abstraction, they have been represented as geometric symbols, as in Turkmen rugs. Even extinct animals may be represented. The aurochs, an extinct ox, is thought to be represented in certain ancient designs in Anatolian kilims. Domesticated animals are common in the weavings of nomadic peoples. These include goats, horses, camels, and roosters. The tiger is often represented in the rugs of Tibet and the lion in the rugs of southwest Iran. The bat is common in Chinese rugs.
For some cultures, the animals represented may symbolize a trait or condition as the crane in China symbolizes long life. The animal may symbolize a particular ethnic group or tribe, as in the tauk noska gul of the Chodor Turkmen.
A geometric design may suggest an animal form to those wishing to label and classify the design where the weavers had no intention of any animal representation. Such is the case with the “Eagle Kazak” and the “running dog” border. See “symbolism in rugs.”
animal trapping. Weavings used primarily for ornament for horses, camels, and donkeys. These include blankets that cover the back and cross the chest of the animal, as well as head ornaments. See “andhani,” “asmalyk,” “at-joli,” “cherlyk,” “chul,” “dzo ke-thil,” “jol,” “kapan,” “khalyk,” “knee caps,” “sar,” “shabrak,” “takheb” and “ushter-i jol.”
Anno Hegirae, A.H. Latinate designation of years in accordance with the Islamic calendar, beginning in 622 C. E., the year of Muhammad’s emigration (Arabic hijra) from Mecca to Medina. See “Islamic dates.”
Antalya. A town on the Gulf of Antalya in Anatolia, located just south of Döşmealtı. Carpets made in Döşmealtı are sometimes incorrectly termed Antalya. Antalya is a trading center for rugs. See “Turkey.”
Antalya kilim Kazim Yildiz
Antheraea pernyi. A silk-producing moth that feeds on oak leaves. See “silk.”
antique. This term is ambiguous and variously interpreted. An antique rug may be one thought to be at least 100 years old. See “dating rugs.”
antique wash. The application of chemicals to a rug to soften colors and simulate the appearance of an older rug. See “luster” and “bleaching.”
appliqué. Superimposed fabrics in which the pattern is created by an accessory fabric (or tape, ribbon, or cord) overlaid on a ground fabric or the pattern is created by cutouts in the ground fabric with the accessory fabric underlaid beneath the cutout.
appraisal. Determining the monetary value of a rug. In formal appraisal, the rug is identified and described. These properties are considered: attribution, age, condition, rug structure, design, and color.
Generally, auction prices are the best guide to the value of oriental rugs of interest to collectors. Easily identified types of rugs have a relatively narrow range of prices in the auction market. Rugs in exceptionally good or bad condition or having exceptional aesthetic merit fall outside this price range. Rugs of less popular or rare attribution have more variable auction prices. Prices are affected by changing interests of collectors and by changing tastes in interior decoration.
The valuation of contemporary decorative oriental rugs depends on current production and changing trends in interior decoration. Current retail prices are the comparative basis for valuing decorative rugs.
Monetary valuation is likely to be influenced by the motive of the person desiring the appraisal. Low appraisals may occur if the owner’s motive for valuation is purchase or estate taxation. High appraisals may occur if the owner’s motive is sale, an insurance claim, or gift deduction for tax purposes. Usually, replacement cost is the basis for declared value for insurance premium determination. Some consider it unethical for an appraiser to charge a fee based on the appraised value of the rug. See “attribution,” “condition,” “dating rugs,” “decorative rug,” “design classification,” and “technical analysis.”
apricot. A light yellowish red color, either the result of initial dye colors or the result of fading.
Aq Chah. A town and district of northern Afghanistan. The town is the chief market for rugs in Afghanistan. Rugs from the villages surrounding Aq Chah are woven by Turkmen. These rugs are in traditional designs and woven with the asymmetric knot. Colors used are red, indigo, and black, with some white, orange, and green
Arabatchi joval Sothebys
Arabatchi (from Turk. arabacı “(driver of) wheeled vehicle.”) A Turkmen tribe of the Amu Darya (Oxus) region of central Turkestan. Older main carpets attributed to this tribe carry the tauk noska gul. The dominant field color in their weavings is purplish-brown. Outlines are formed in natural brown wool. There is some warp offset and the knot is asymmetric and open to the left. Wefts are spun of wool and white cotton. However, the attribution of specific rugs to this tribe is questioned. See “Turkmen.”
arabesque. A design motif of intertwining or scrolling vines, tendrils, straps, or branches. These may be classified as geometric, floral, or vegetal, including the split-leaf type known as “rumî.” Arabesques usually include leaves, profile buds, and blossoms. They are a common device in oriental rug designs. Systems of arabesques may be superimposed in rug designs. See “islimi,” “saz,” “split leaf arabesque,” “Vase carpet,” and “Strapwork carpets.”
Arabesque
Iraqi Arabic embroidered rug (detail) Tribal Collections
Arabs. Arabic-speaking peoples inhabiting the countries of Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and much of North Africa. There are scattered groups throughout the Middle East, including Iran, and Turkestan. There is no significant rug production in Arabia. However, a so-called Arab tribe in south west Iran, a member of the Khamseh Confederacy, produces pile rugs, and Arab enclaves in Turkestan (both northern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) are the source of kilims. See “Khamseh” and “Bedouin.”
Arabia. A peninsula of the Near East bounded on the west by the Red Sea, on the south by the Indian Ocean, on the east by the Persian Gulf, and on the north by Iraq and Jordan. It presently comprises the states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Mecca, the Muslim holy city, is near the west coast.
Arabic calligraphy and script. Arabic script derives from Nabataean script, and is a member of the family of Semitic writing systems which, via Phoenician, gave rise to the Greek and hence the Latin alphabet. The development and wide usage of Arabic script was due to the need to copy and distribute the Koran, beginning in the seventh century. Ornamented script or calligraphy developed from early Jazm script. There were many succeeding variations. These included Kufic, Thuluth, Naskhi, Nasta’liq, Muhaqqaq, Rayhani, Riqa’, and Tawqi’. Of these, only Kufic, Thuluth, Naskhi, and Nasta’liq have been found in inscriptions in oriental rugs. The inscriptions in the Ardabil carpet are in Nasta’liq. Kufesque is a group of design motifs derived from Kufic script, but not directly readable as script. The calligraphic styles were first used for textile and rug inscriptions in this approximate time sequence:
Kufic: seventh to tenth centuries
Kufesque: eleventh to fifteenth centuries
Nasta’liq: sixteenth to eighteenth centuries
Thuluth: nineteenth to twentieth centuries
See “cartouche,” “Kufesque,” and “inscriptions.”
Arabic numbers, Arabic numerals. See “Islamic dates.”
Arâk, Sultanabad. A province and city of northwest Iran. The city of Arâk was formerly Sultanabad. The province was the source of much high-quality rug production, on a workshop basis, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Notable rug-weaving centers in Arâk province include Sarouk, Mahal (Mahallât), Lillihan, and the districts of Farâhân and Serabend. See entries under these names.
Arâk (Sultanabad) rug Jason Nazmiyal
ara-khachi (Turk.). Middle or main stripe in a rug border.
arbabash (cart cover or head). A felt carpet of Daghestan in which the design is produced by appliquéd felt. See “Daghestan,” “istang,” and “kiyiz.”
archaeological sites. See “Altai culture,” “At-Tar,” “Çatal Hüyük,” “Fustat,” “Fustat carpet,” “Kizil,” “Lop Nor,” “Lop San pra,” “Lou lan,” “Niya,” “Pazyryk carpet,” “Quseir al-Qadim,” and “Shahr-i Qumis.”
Ardabil, Ardebil. A town in Iranian Azerbaijan east of Tabriz. It is the site of the shrine of Shaikh Safi (ancestor of the Safavid dynasty), first begun in the fourteenth century. Contemporary rugs of this area employ designs similar to Caucasian designs. They have symmetric knots at a density up to 160 per square inch on a cotton foundation. See “Persia.”
Ardabil rug J. Barry O’Connell
Ardabil Carpets. Two nearly identical Ardabil carpets were woven in 1535 or 1540, according to inscriptions on the carpets. One carpet, repaired with fragments from its twin, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. A major central portion of the other is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Both these magnificent carpets were woven in the reign of Shah Tahmâsp. Both carpets have the same original dimensions, about 34½ feet by 17½ feet. The carpets are woven on a silk foundation with an asymmetric knot at approximately 300 knots per square inch. The carpet in the Victoria and Albert museum has the higher knot count. The name of the designer, Maqsud of Kashan, is woven into the rugs. Their specific function and city of origin is conjectural. They were originally thought to have been woven for the shrine at Ardabil, but this use has been questioned due to the size of the rugs. The origin of the carpets has been as signed to Ardabil, Kashan, Mashhad, Tabriz, and other locations. See “Persia.”
Ardabil Carpet Victoria and Albert Museum
Ardakān. A town southeast of Nain in Iran and a source of rugs with Kashan designs, though more coarsely woven.
area rug. In the rug trade, any rug that is not cut and in stalled to cover the floor from wall to wall. Also a rug of about 4½ feet by 7 feet.
Armenia. An ancient country of western Asia, professing Christianity since ca. 300 C. E., that once included parts of eastern Turkey, northern Persia, and the southern Caucasus. There are rugs from all of these areas that carry Armenian inscriptions. The Republic of Armenia occupies a southern portion of the Caucasus. See “Caucasus.”
Often, dates in Armenian rugs appear in letter form. The date can be translated to the Gregorian calendar by determining the sum of the numbers represented by each letter and adding 551 to this sum.
Armenian alphabet with numerical equivalents
Armenia
Armenian rugs. There are rugs with Armenian inscriptions from Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus. Most are from the Caucasus. Much of the rug production of Shusha in nineteenth-century Karabagh is thought to have been woven by Armenians. Caucasian rugs with western dates are probably Armenian in origin. Some scholars believe the early Caucasian Dragon Carpets are attributable to Armenians of the southern Caucasus. See “Caucasus,” “Dragon carpets,” “Echmiadzin,” “Erivan,” and “Gohar carpet.”
Armenian rug (detail) Wikimedia Commons
armorial carpet. Any carpet bearing a coat of arms or heraldic device. More particularly, carpets woven in Spain by the Moors which were commissioned by Spanish royalty and bore their coats of arms. These carpets are dated as early as 1405. See “Admiral carpets,” “Alpujarra,” “escutcheon,” “Fremlin carpet,” “Girdler’s carpet,” “Kerman armori,” and “Polonaise”
Savonnerie armorial carpet (detail)
Aroon. A lower grade of Kashan. See “Kashan.”
Arraiolos needlework carpet (detail)
Arraiolos. A town of Portugal and a source of needlework carpets beginning in the sixteenth century. Originally designs were based on models from Persia and Anatolia. Later designs include boldly drawn floral and animal motifs of a more European character. The field of these rugs was usually yellow.
Arras. A city of the Netherlands (presently in northern France) famed for tapestries woven from the 13th through the 15th centuries. The name has become synonymous with tapes tries, wall hangings, and curtains.
Arras tapestry
Ashkhabad. Ashkhabad (Ashgabat) is the capital of Turkmenistan, a center for commercial rug manufacture, and a trading center for other Turkmen rugs and weavings. See “Turkmenistan.”
artel. An artisans’ cooperative. Cooperatives of rug weavers were organized in the 1920s in Soviet Russia to weave rugs for export. See “five-year plan rugs.”
artemisia leaf. One of the eight precious things of Confucianism. A Chinese symbol of dignity and happiness sometimes used in rug designs. In the Near East, artemisia stems are used as a yellow dye. In Europe, it is used as a flavoring herb and narcotic (wormwood).
Artemesia
Artemesia leaf (Chinese)
Art Moderne, Art Décoratif, Art Deco, Modern Movement. A style of interior decoration having its origin in the Bauhaus movement. It developed between World Wars One and Two and involved the design of furnishings compatible with modern machine production methods. Art Moderne rug designs were influenced by such artists as Braque, Léger, Mondrian, and Miró. Geometric shapes, blocks of color, straight lines, and curving lines were used to form non-objective designs. These carpets were designed and woven in England, China, Scotland, France, and the United States.
French Art Deco rug (detail) Peter Pap Oriental Rugs Inc
Scandanavian Modern Movement (detail) Doris Leslie Blau
Art Nouveau. The decorative style of Art Nouveau flourished in the last decade of the nineteenth century. It influenced the design of architecture, graphics, and domestic furnishings. A return to high standards of craftsmanship was a goal of this movement. The style is characterized by the exuberant use of plant forms (stems, vines, leaves, flowers) attenuated and integrated into the shape of the object. Outstanding examples of Art Nouveau carpets were designed with these highly stylized plant forms by Sir Frank Brangwyn, Gallén-Kallela of Finland, and Victor Horta of Belgium.
Art Nouveau rug by Frank Brangwyn (detail) Doris Leslie Blau
Arts and Crafts. A design movement of the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century originating in Great Britain. Supporters of the movement were committed to craftsmanship in the applied arts and the production of domestic furnishings. They rejected the elaborate decorative styles of manufactured goods then popular on the continent. A guiding concept was that of the designer artisan who executed his or her own designs. The Arts and Crafts movement fostered Art Nouveau. Arts and Crafts rugs were designed by William Morris and C.F.A. Voysey. Hand-knotted Arts and Crafts rugs were woven and many others were designed for production as power-loomed Axminsters. Large scale or out-sized floral motifs were dominant and some pictorial designs were used. See “Art Nouveau,” “Voysey, Charles,” and “Morris, William.”
Arts and Crafts rug (C.F. A. Voysey) Doris Leslie Blau
art silk. A trade term for artificial silk or mercerized cotton. See “floss” and “mercerized.”
art squares. Late nineteenth-century, power-loomed English carpets. These carpets were woven as whole, independent carpets, rather than as carpeting strips to be sewn together according to prior practice.
asab (Arabic). Ikat.
asachu. Moroccan long, narrow, mixed-technique fabric used as a tent divider.
Asadâbâd, Assadabad. A town of the Hamadan region in northwest Iran. The town is a source of red, coarsely woven rugs with an open variation of the Herati pattern.
asan (Sanskrit “seat, pose”). A small rug of India, usually in a square format, used for meditation or prayer.
ashik (Turk. aşık, “knuckle bone”). A stepped motif used in borders or stripes and, sometimes as a field design.
Ashik border After Moshkova
ashik gul. A gul of serrated or stepped diamonds. The diamonds may be concentric.
Ashik gul
Ashkali. An ambiguous term for a Qashqa’i medallion and border design. See “Qashqa’i.”
asmalyk, osmulduk (Turk., “hanging”). A five-sided or seven-sided Turkmen camel trapping made in pairs and worn by the camel carrying the bride in wedding celebrations. See “bird asmalyk” and “jewelry asmalyk.”
Asmalyk (Yomud) Richard Golder, Jr.
Asmalyk (Ersari) Grover Schiltz
Assadabad. See “Asadâbâd.”
assyuti. An Egyptian kilim of traditional design, woven in bright colors. Attributed to Asyut, a city of central Egypt.
asymmetric knot. A pile knot. The Persian (Farsibaff) or (incorrectly described) Senneh knot. This knot may be open to the right or left.
Asymmetric knots
Atabei. A sub-tribe of the Yomud. They are associated with the erre gul. See “erre gul” and “Yomud.”
atelier (French). A workshop where artisans are employed or an artist’s studio.
at-joli (Turk.). Horse blanket.
atkı (Turk.). Weft.
At-Tar. See “Iraq.”
at-torba (Turk.) Horse feed bag.
attribution. Attribution is assigning a geographic and/or ethnic origin to a weaving, sometimes including dating. More formally, attribution is assigning a geographic, ethnic, or commercial origin to a weaving (with or without dating) by reference to detailed criteria and persuasive evidence. Persuasive evidence should show that the criteria are valid and that the rug in question satisfies the criteria. Criteria should be explicit, detailed, observable, and relate the properties of a weaving to the weavers.
Evidence for the validity of criteria may be classified as follows:
1. Certain knowledge. A reliable witness saw rugs woven in a specific place or by persons of a specific ethnic group and documented the shared properties of these rugs. This is the rarest and most persuasive form of evidence.
2. Inference from specific contemporary circumstances. Local inhabitants claim the rug as their product. Someone purchased the rug in a specific area or shipped it from a specific area. Dealers identify an area, ethnic group, or commercial entity as a source for certain rugs. The shared properties of these rugs were documented. This form of evidence is more common and less persuasive than certain knowledge.
3. Inference from historical and cultural circumstances. One deduces the origin of rugs with shared properties from historical and cultural circumstances. For example, comparison of rug motifs with decorative motifs from other sources can support the criteria for attribution. Generally, this form of evidence is more speculative and less persuasive than other classifications. A particular weaving should be shown to satisfy the criteria for attribution based on internal evidence (properties of the rug itself) or external evidence such as history of ownership, fitness of a weaving for its supposed purpose, or information about the site where the weaving was found. Also, attribution may be a socially acceptable fib about the origin of a rug. In rug literature, a question mark in parenthesis following an attribution indicates it is speculative. See “provenance” and “provocation.”
aubergine. Eggplant; the color of this, a blackish purple. Bishop’s purple.
Aubusson. Carpets woven at the factories first established in Aubusson, France, in about 1665. Initially, carpet designs copied Turkish models, but later designs were based on those of the Savonnerie workshops, although simpler.
Aubusson rug Jason Nazmiyal
auction pool, auction ring, knockout. A group of individuals (usually dealers) attending an auction who agree not to bid against each other in order to lower the auction price. One individual bids for the group. The group holds another auction for group members only after the rugs are purchased. Individuals who do not bid successfully for the rugs in this second auction are compensated according to some predetermined rate depending on the spread between the first and second auction prices.
audience rug, triclinium. In certain Islamic countries, it was customary in important dwellings to arrange rugs in the main chamber as shown.
When a single rug is woven to represent this arrangement, it is known as an audience rug or triclinium rug (after the three couches surrounding the meal table in ancient Rome). These terms are not native to Islamic countries nor do they correctly suggest the function of the rug in a household.
Audience rug
Tabriz audience rug Sothebys
Austria. A factory for hand-knotted carpets was set up in Vienna in 1810 and production continued through 1929.
Austrian carpet (detail) Peter Willborg
Avanos. See “Cappadocia.”
Avar. An ethnic group of Daghestan in the Caucasus. Their religion is Sunni Muslim. In the nineteenth century, they wove rugs and kilims (davaghins). Many have a distinctive design of angular branching structures or hooked diamonds (rukhzal) in light red on an indigo blue field. Some of these pieces include dates in the last half of the nineteenth century. See “Daghestan” and “davaghin.”
Avar kilim (detail) Rukhazi
Avar motif
Avşar. See “Afshar.”
avshan. See “afshan.”
Avunya. See “Ezine.”
Axminster. From the mid-eighteenth century to 1835, hand-knotted rugs were woven in the town of Axminster, England, in a factory founded by Thomas Whitty. These were woven in designs compatible with Adams interiors and in imitation of Persian models. After 1835, so called “Axminster” carpets were hand-knotted in Wilton factories up to the beginning of the twentieth century.
Spool Axminster or Moquette rugs woven on power looms employ a system in which pile yarn is laid against a weft and inserted between warps by means of small tubes, through which the pile yarn passes. Wefts, locking the pile in place, are stitched by means of needles rather than interlaced by means of a shuttle. In another power loom system, termed seamless Axminster, a Jacquard system raises lengths of pile to mechanical fingers which grasp and insert pile lengths between warps and hold them in place until they are locked by wefts. See “Brussels,” “Chenille,” “England,” “Moorfields,” and “Wilton.”
Axminster carpet (detail) Haliden
ayatalak (Turk.) A funerary rug. See “landscape carpet.”
Aybak. See “Samangân.”
Aydin kilim (detail)
Aydın. A town in western Anatolia and a source of kilims and cicims. Most kilims from the area are woven in three parts, a central panel with two edge strips. A distinctive design feature is that main borders at the ends are followed by colored stripes and a single row of weft twining. See “Turkey.”
ay gul. A generally circular medallion of Eastern Turkestan rugs, especially rugs of Khotan. There are many variations, but the most common ay gul medallions contain rosettes, pomegranates, or cloud bands.
Ay guls Doris Leslie Blau
Ayvacık. A town south of Çanakkale in Anatolia, the headquarters of the DOBAG project and a source of DOBAG rugs. See “DOBAG” and “Turkey.”
Azerbaijan. A large region south of the Caucasus mountains and west of the Caspian Sea, now divided by the River Aras (Araxes) into the Republic of Azerbaijan (north) and the Iranian province of Azerbaijan (south). Tabriz is a major city and rug production center of Iranian Azerbaijan. Rug production centers in the Republic of Azerbaijan include Kuba, Karabagh, Shirvân, and Baku. Azerbaijan is inhabited by Turks who are currently (or formerly) Shi’i Muslim in religion, but the population also includes Shi’i Persians, Sunni Kurds, and Christian Armenians and Assyrians.
Carpet production was primarily for domestic use until the mid-nineteenth century. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, carpet production was a major export industry. Turkey was the largest importer of Azerbaijani an carpets throughout this period. Pile rugs of Azerbaijan are primarily Turkish knotted.
There is a group of Azerbaijan embroidery dating back to the seventeenth century, primarily from northern Azerbaijan. The foundation fabric is cotton and the embroidery is usually in silk. Often, these embroideries have a squareish format. They were usually used as kerchiefs. Most designs are similar to those of early Caucasian floral carpets. Designs of compact roundels, stars, and cartouche shapes are also common. Many nineteenth-century rug designs appear to have been developed or adopted from such embroideries (Swastika Kazak, Star Kazak, Karagashli, etc.).
A wide variety of bags, animal trappings, and flatweaves are produced in Iranian Azerbaijan. The structures used are kilim, soumak, cicim, and embroidery. See “Bakhshaish,” “Baku,” “Caucasus,” “Nakhchivan,” and “Sâliâni.”
Azerbaijan silk embroidery Sothebys
Azerbaijan rug (detail) Haliden
azo dyes. These are synthetic direct dyes introduced about 1880, including Ponceau 2R, Amaranth, and Roccelline. For the early azo dyes, particular acidity conditions were needed to fix the dye. These conditions were not always met in rug-producing areas with the result that these dyes bled and faded. See “dye, synthetic.”
