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Baba Haidar. A village of western Persia, west of Isfahan. The village is a source of both single and double-wefted medallion rugs.
Babaseqal. A clan of Ersaris in Afghanistan between Andkhoy and Aq Chah.
baby. A trade term for an oriental rug about 4 feet by 2 feet.
back. That side of a rug normally placed against the floor. The side of a weaving not intended to be exposed.
backing. Cotton, jute, synthetics, or other flexible materials used to form the back of a machine-made rug.
backstrap loom. A narrow loom in which the weight of the weaver provides tension for the warps by means of a strap attached to the breast beam that passes around the weaver’s back. The warp beam is tied to some stable object. The backstrap loom is used in Tibet, Nepal, and Central America.
Backstrap loom (schematic)
Badahoi. See “Bhadohi.”
badam border. See “gul-i badam.”
badem. See “boteh.”
badgashi (Persian). In Khurasan, “coarse wool.”
badge of Tamerlane. See “chintamani.”
badges, rank. See “rank badges.”
bâfandeh (Persian). Weaver. See “nassâj.”
baff (Persian, “weaving”). Knot or weave.
bag. See entries under these names.
| ala chuval | kif |
| at-torba | kola-i chergh |
| balisht | mafrash |
| bashtyk | namakdan |
| beshek | napramach |
| chanteh | pul donneh |
| chavadan | pushti |
| chemche torba | qalyândân |
| chupuqdân | qâshoqdân |
| galeh | rakhat |
| hurch | saddlebags |
| igsalik | scisssor bags |
| jollar | schabadan |
| joval | spoon bag |
| kap | tacheh |
| karshin | tarhalt |
| kese | torba |
| khâbgâh | torbak |
| khorjin | tubreh |
Bag closures. A very wide variety of closures is used for tribal and nomadic bags. These include ties, drawstrings, laceing, loop-through-loop, and the most common loop-through-slit closure.
Loop-through-slit bag closure
Loop-through-loop bag closure
Drawstring bag closure
bag face. See “face.”
bâgh (Persian). Garden.
baghmal (Tajik, variant of makhmal). An ikat of silk velvet.
Baharestan. See “Spring Carpet of Chosroes.”
Baharlu. A Turkic tribe of the Khamseh Confederacy of southwest Iran. Their rugs usually have symmetric knots. See “Khamseh Confederacy.”
Bahluli. A subtribe of the Baluchis inhabiting northern Iran.
baize. See “bayeta.”
Bakhshaish. A village in Persian Azerbaijan, southwest of Heriz. Contemporary rugs of this village are of the Heriz design. Older rugs of Bakhshaish were woven with the Herati pattern. The symmetric knot is used.
Bakhshaish rug Grogan & Company
Bakhtiari. A nomadic tribe (though two-thirds are now sedentary) inhabiting an area of west central Iran, southwest of Isfahan. The Bakhtiaris are a subtribe of the Lurs, speaking an Iranian language. Some researchers classify Bakhtiari pile rugs as nomadic or village based on structural distinctions. Symmetrically knotted double-wefted rugs on a wool foundation are regarded as nomadic or tribal. Symmetrically knotted single-wefted rugs on a cotton foundation are regarded as village production. Many of these have brown-black overcast edges. Designs are primarily rectangular or lozenge-shaped compartments filled with brightly-colored stylized floral or garden motifs and long rugs with vertical stripes containing small botehs. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Bakhtiari wove a number of fine rugs carrying inscriptions in an end strip or cartouche. These inscriptions were dates and dedications to Bakhtiari khans.
Bakhtiari flatweaves include kilims, saddlebags, salt bags, mafrash, and warp-faced tablet-woven bands. Many of the bags are woven in the soumak structure. The bags often have a pile strip at the bottom. Some kilims are woven in two strips. The inter locking weft structure is used in Bakhtiari kilims. End panels outside the kilim borders are a design feature of some Bakhtiari kilims. See “Chahâr Mahâl,” “kheshti,” “Lurs,” and “Shushtar.”
Bakhtiari rug Grogan and Company
baklava design. A design in Anatolian kilims and pile rugs of diamonds with saw-tooth or serrated edges. The diamonds may be medallions or small repeats. Baklava is a Turkish pastry traditionally cut in a diamond shape.
Baklava design
Baku. A city at the base of the Apsheron peninsula in the Caucasus, formerly in Persian Azerbaijan. Baku was a khanate until annexed by Russia in 1806. The term “Baku” is applied to nineteenth-century rugs of Baku, Chila, Surahani, and Sâliâni. Boteh are a common motif in Baku rugs. Colors are often turquoise blue and earth tones. These rugs have symmetric knots at an average density of 84 per square inch. The average area is 35 square feet. They are slightly more likely to be cotton-wefted (52%) than wool-wefted (45%). Wefts are usually white, but blue and red-wefted examples are found. See “Caucasus,” “Chila,” and “Surakhany.”
Baku rug (detail) Azerbaijan Rug
bala-khachi (Turk.). Narrow borders on either side of a main border.
balanced plain weave. A plain weave (the simplest interlacing of warp and weft) in which warp and weft are of the same size, equally spaced and have the same count. Both sides are structurally identical. See “plain weave.”
Balanced plain weave
balanced twill weave. A float weave in which continuous wefts systematically skip warps and/or warps systematically skip wefts in a diagonal alignment and warp and weft counts are equal. See “twill weave.”
Balanced twill weave
bales. See “balisht”
Bahawalpur. A town and district of southeastern Pakistan. It is a source of commissioned workshop rugs.
Balıkesir. A town of northwest Anatolia. A market source of rugs woven on an all-wool foundation with knot densities of about 40 to 80 symmetric knots per square inch. Some rugs are produced in Kazak designs. There are small, one-piece, tapestry-woven kilims from the area. These are primarily red and blue with interlocking latch hook designs. See “Yüncü.”
Balıkesir rug (detail) Yuran
balisht, bales, blesht, pushti (Persian, “cushion, bolster”). A bag woven by the Baluchis, Kurds, and Pashtuns. These bags are about 16 by 32 inches. They have one pile and one flatwoven face or they may be entirely flatwoven. They may be used as pillows.
Baluchi balisht
Balkan carpets and kilims. Most of the weavings of Balkan countries have been strongly influenced by the occupation of the Ottoman Turks. Specific descriptions of the weavings of these countries are under these entries: Albania, Bessarabia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Yugoslavia.
Balkh. A town of northern Afghanistan near Mazar-i Sharif, formerly a great city of the ancient world. The Balkh area is a major source of carpets based on Tekke designs. Colors are red, blue, and white. The asymmetric knot is tied on wool warps.
Ballard, James Franklin (1851-1931). Ballard was a pharmaceutical manufacturer who collected many eighteenth and nineteenth-century Turkish prayer rugs. At least six catalogs of his collections were published, one authored by Maurice S. Dimand. He gave valuable collections of oriental rugs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and to the St. Louis City Art Museum in 1929.
Baluchi, Baluch, Beloudge, Beluchi. The Baluch are a people inhabiting contiguous areas of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan collectively called Baluchistan. There are also groups of Baluch in northern Iran and Afghanistan and in Central Asia. They speak a language of the Iranian family. Pile rugs are woven by the Baluch of Khurasan in Iran and Afghanistan. Their pile rugs are usually small and characteristically thin and floppy. Most have asymmetric knots and a very few have symmetric knots. Baluchi rugs are double-wefted. Traditional colors are dark browns, dark blues, orange-reds, dark reds, and black. White is used in border designs and for highlights in the field. Camel colored wool and camel hair are also used, often in a tree-of-life prayer rug design. Touches of orange, light blue, and green are sometimes used. Designs are usually all-over patterns of gul-like elements, botehs, or geometricized Mina Khani patterns. Usually, there is a flatwoven strip at top and bottom of the rug. It may be striped or woven in slit-weave tapestry and include designs of weft substitution patterning.
The Baluch weave sofrehs, ru-korsi, saddle bags, salt bags, balisht, and other bags. Weavings of the Aimaq, including Timu ris, have often been confused with those of the Baluch. Rugs of the Quchân Kurds and the Ferdows Arabs have also been attributed to the Baluch. See”Bahluli,” “black Baluchi,” “Chakhansur,” “Jan Mirzai,” “Moreidari,” “Yaqub Khani,” and “Zâbol.”
Baluchi weft substitution patterning and weft twining
Baluchi rug Moe Jamali
Baluchistan. An area of southeastern Iran and western Pakistan. The inhabitants of this area produce flatwoven pieces, but very few pile rugs. Pile rugs generally attributed to the Baluch are woven in Khurasan and Afghanistan. Baluchistan is a harsh and arid area. The native Baluch are primarily nomadic. They weave a wide variety of flatwoven articles on horizontal ground looms. Many of their weavings are intricate examples of weft substitution patterning. Shells, bones, beads, and buttons are often used as accessory ornaments. Functional articles consist of bedding covers (shaffi) and floor covers (kont). Animal trap pings include camel collars (gardan-band), camel necklaces (gutti), and camel foreleg decorations (shishajel). The Baluch weave saddle bags, salt bags, flour bags (gowalag), and highly ornamented vanity bags (istrajal). See “Baluchi” and “Brahui.”
Balvardi. See “Bulvardi.”
bamboo. Bamboo is sometimes depicted in Chinese rugs. As a Taoist symbol, a bamboo tube is shown wrapped by a ribbon and containing several wands. It may be shown in full leaf as a motif in modern rugs. Generally, bamboo symbolizes endurance, the ability to bend without breaking.
Bamboo
Banat. A province of Romania and a source of kilims, usually woven with the slit-weave tapestry structure. These kilims have stripes or geometrical medallion designs. Designs and structure suggest strong Turkish influence. See “Romania.”
band. See “ghorband,” “kanat,” “mâlband,” “navâr,” “tablet weaving,” “tang,” and “tent band.”
band-e kenâreh (Persian). Heavy selvage warps in a pile rug.
bandha (Oriya, “tied”). Ikat fabrics of Orissa, a province of central eastern India.
Bandırma, Panderma. Bandırma is a town in northwest Anatolia on the Sea of Marmara. Copies of Gördes prayer rugs and Ottoman court rugs were woven there until the end of the Second World War. These rugs are mostly wool on a cotton foundation. Some silk rugs were woven and some were all cotton. Many of these rugs were artificially aged and have been mistaken for genuine antique Gördes prayer rugs or Ottoman court rugs. Rugs based on Persian floral designs were also woven in Bandırma.
Bannu. A town of northwest Pakistan and a source of commissioned rugs.
Baotou, Paotou, Pao Tao. A town of Inner Mongolia in China northeast of Ningxia. Rugs of Baotou and surrounding villages are more densely knotted than those of Ningxia and use more blue in their de signs. Early Baotou rugs have all-over repeating patterns while later rugs are more pictorial. See “China.”
Baotou rug Sothebys
Barak. A town of southeast Anatolia and a source of kilims, often with a diamond or hexagon lattice design.
Barak kilim (detail) Kazim Yildiz
barberpole, barberpole border, gyak. Diagonal stripes. These are sometimes used in the field, but more often occur in borders and selvages of rugs. A selvedge overcast to produce diagonal stripes. A warp plied of yarn of two different colors.
Barberpole
Barmazid. A village of northern Afghanistan inhabited by Tekke Turkmen. They weave all-wool, double-wefted rugs in traditional Tekke designs.
Barjid. A town of Karadagh in Persian Azerbaijan and a source of rugs woven with Chelaberd or Eagle Kazak medallions. These rugs are woven on a cotton foundation and are single-wefted.
bar, yamany. In the Caucasus, a Kurdish kilim used as a cover.
Barujird. See “Borujerd.”
Baseri, Basiri, Basseri. A Persian-speaking tribe of the Khamseh Confederacy of southwest Iran. Their rugs usually have asymmetric knots. See “Khamseh Confederacy.”
Baseri bag face R. John Howe
bashtyk. A Kirgiz rectangular storage bag with a flap and hung in the tent. The size is about 20 by 20 inches. The face may be ornamented with embroidery and the bottom hung with tassels.
basit elma (Turk. “simple apple”). A motif of an oval chain of small circles with a cross or diamond in the center, used in Makri and other rugs.
Basit elma motif
Basic dyes. Early coal tar derivative dyes developed by Perkin and Hoffman. These are salts of various organic bases. They produced bright colors on animal fibers, but were not colorfast. See “acid dyes” and “dye, synthetic.”
basket weave. A plain weave in which there are multiple warps and multiple wefts (such as pairs or triplets) interlaced. In a basket weave, the number of warps woven as a group equals the number of wefts woven as a group.
Basket weave
baskur. A tent band. See “tent band.”
Basmakçı. A town of western Anatolia. It is the source of a large contemporary production of all-wool rugs in Caucasian designs. Knot densities are about 120 per square inch.
bast. Woody vegetable fibers used for weaving such as flax, hemp, jute, or straw.
bat. The bat is often represented singly or in groups in Chinese and Tibetan rugs. Five bats (wufu) are emblematic of blessings.
Bat
Bauhaus. A design movement in Germany founded by Hermann Muthe sius and Walter Gropius in the early twentieth century. Rug weavers who participated in the movement produced pile and flat woven rugs with designs of non-objective geometric shapes. See “Art Moderne.”
Bavânât. See “Bowanat.”
Bayburt. A town of northeast Anatolia. It is thought to be the source of kilims with stepped mihrabs and ornate multiple borders. Dominant colors are ochre and olive green. Many of these kilims are dated. Gilt metal threads and silk were used in some of these kilims.
bayeta. A fabric woven on treadle looms in New Mexico in the nineteenth century. The nap was raised on the fabric after it was taken from the loom. Also, wool yarn from blankets made in Spain and England that was unraveled by Navajos and rewoven into Navajo blankets. Dyes used in these yarns are critical in dating Navajo blankets of the 19th century. The English equivalent of bayeta is baize.
bayeta serapes. A type of Navajo blanket woven between 1830 and about 1850 and containing a high proportion of bayeta yarn. These blankets were of the highest weaving quality. A common design was diamonds superimposed on stripes.
beam. The horizontal member of the loom frame on which warps are wound or fastened. On a roller beam loom, warps are unwound from the top beam of the loom and the textile is rolled upon the lower beam of the loom as the textile is woven. Since the warps must be maintained in tension as the fabric is woven, there are various means of spreading the beams. Wedges or twisted ropes are used on primitive looms, screw and/or ratchet devices are used on commercial looms. See “breast beam,” “loom,” and “warp beam.”
Beams on a loom
beater. A weighted wood or metal comb used to beat wefts down against each row of knots as a carpet is woven on the loom.
Beaters
Beattie, May H. (1908-1997). May Beattie was a British scholar of oriental rugs with a focus on rug structure as a key to rug origins. She began her rug studies in Iraq. Subsequently, she wrote extensively about Persian rugs. Her research is preserved in the Beattie Archive of the Ashmolean Museum.
beat up. The tufts per inch in Axminster and chenille carpeting.
bed covers. See “blankets.”
Bedouin, Beduin. Nomadic Arabs inhabiting the deserts of North Africa and Arabia. They are sheep and camel herders. Bedouin weavings includes goat hair fabric for tents and wool dividing curtains, pillows, bags, animal trappings, and small articles. Designs consist mainly of stripes of geometric elements, diamonds, checks, and animal brands (wasm). Bright colors are characteristic. Ground looms are used to produce warp-faced plain weaves. Weft twining is used for decorative stripes and to strengthen edges. Some Bedouin men weave, but most weavers are women.
Behbehân. A town of southwestern Iran and a source of Luri rugs. Designs are hooked medallions in dark colors.
Behsud. A town west of Kabul in Afghanistan. The town is inhabited by Hazaras who weave coarse kilims, mainly with stripes. See “Hazara.”
Beijing, Peking. The earliest rug weaving in Beijing is thought to have begun in 1860. Regular factory rug production began in 1880. The period of heaviest production was between 1880 and 1920, after which Tientsin became the major production center.
Beijing rug Peter Pap Oriental Rugs Inc.
The best of the Beijing carpets imitated designs of older palace, court, and temple rugs. The more popular Beijing carpets had a blue field with designs and border in buff, white, or gold. Motifs included Buddhist and Taoist symbols, sometimes mixed in the same rug and used without regard for their meanings. Beijing rugs were usually woven with the asymmetric knot on warps without offset. There is contemporary rug production in Beijing. Cur rent knot densities range from 34 knots per square inch to 100 knots per square inch. See “China.”
Belgium. There is a large, contemporary production of power-loomed carpets in Belgium. Most of these are made in imitation of hand-knotted Near Eastern rug designs. From the thirteenth century, Flanders was famed for its tapestries and lace. See “Arras” and “Brussels.”
Bellini rugs. Anatolian prayer rugs of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These are rugs with a pointed mihrab and open field except for a distinctive indented or lobed quadrilateral medallion. The main border may be Kufesque. An inner border may have a reentrant octagon or “keyhole” at the bottom. This design is shown in rugs in paintings of northern Italy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The earliest representation of this prayer rug is in a painting in the National Gallery, London, by Gentile Bellini made in 1507. See “turret design.”
Bellini prayer rug
bells. Small bells may be attached to animal trappings. See “accessory objects” and “knee caps.”
Beloudge. See “Baluchi.”
Beluchi. See “Baluchi.”
Ben Adi. A town in Egypt producing naturally colored, tapestry-woven rugs in geometric designs.
Benares (modern Varanasi). An ancient city of north central India. The carpet center of this area is in the nearby city of Bhadohi. See “Bhadohi.”
Bengal. A region of east India including the city of Calcutta. Rug weaving began in the region in the late seventeenth century, but rug production from the area was never great. See “Calcutta.”
Benguiat, Vitall (1859-1937). A dealer and collector of rugs and textiles. Born in Izmir, Turkey, Vitall Benguiat moved from Europe to New York in 1898. Through his liaison with the American Art Association, Benguiat imported and auctioned some of the finest classical Turkish, Persian, Indian, and Mamluk oriental rugs.
Beni M’guild. A Berber tribe of the Middle Atlas region of Morocco. The weavers of this tribe generally use the symmetric knot, though they have sometimes used the asymmetric knot. Designs are repeated geometric elements. Rugs are often without side borders. The tribe produces flatwoven blankets, curtains, shawls, saddle bags, and cushion covers.
Beni M’guild rug Lloyd Rowcroft
Beni M’tir. A Berber tribe of the Middle Atlas region of Morocco. Their rugs are borderless and designs consist of repeated geometric elements. Weavers of this tribe use the asymmetric knot.
Berber knot. A rug knot used in Berber tribal weavings of the Middle Atlas region of Morocco. The Berber knot encircles two warps twice. On the front of the rug, tufts emerge in diagonal opposing directions from under a diagonal loop of the knot. The Berber knot may be offset one warp in either direction. It may also be used in combination with the symmetric knot tied on four warps. The amount of yarn used in the Berber knot is greater than that used in either the symmetric or asymmetric knots. The Berber knot is more durable than the asymmetric or symmetric knot.
Berber knot
Berber rugs. See “Morocco.”
berde (Greek). A flatwoven doorway hanging of northern Greece woven in three panels and stitched together.
berdelik. Textiles, including rugs, used as wall hangings. See “laicerul.”
Bergama, Bergamo, Pergamum (Latin). A city of northwestern Anatolia (ancient Pergamum), near the Aegean Sea, with a long tradition of rug weaving. Fifteenth-century rugs have been attributed to Bergama. A wide variety of designs are identified as Bergama. The term is sometimes applied to western Anatolian rugs of indefinite origin. Some Transylvanian rugs of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are thought to derive from Bergama. Contemporary Bergama rugs have designs that suggest Caucasian types or are all-over geometricized floral patterns. Rugs of the Yağçibedir tribe are woven in the region and the nearby towns of Yuntdağ and Kozak are known for their rugs. Kilims from this area usually have geometric designs suggesting those of the Seljuk period.
Bergama rug James Allen
beshek, beşik (Turk.). Bedding bag. See “mafrash.”
Beshir, Beshire. A town on the Amu Darya river in west Turkes tan. Rugs made in the area of Bokhara and along the Amu Darya into northern Afghanistan are often described as Beshir. Most of these rugs are thought to be woven by Ersari Turkmen. This general attribution is disputed by some scholars. Turkmen rugs labeled Beshir have designs derived from Ikat patterns, the Herati pattern, the Mina Khani pattern and 2-1-2 medallions. A large variety of geometric motifs and boteh patterns are also found in these rugs. A distinctive prayer rug with a large mihrab containing geometricized floral patterns is considered Beshiri. Beshiri rugs are woven with the asymmetric knot.
Beshir namazlyk Sothebys
Bessarabian carpet (detail) Sothebys
Bessarabia. A region of southwest Russia bordering Romania on the south and the Black Sea on the east. “Bessarabian” is used loosely to describe Polish, Rumanian, and Bulgarian hand-knotted rugs. Bessarabia itself is the source of kilims similar to those of Moldavia. Inscriptions on Bessarabian kilims are in the Cyrillic alphabet. See “Moldavia.”
Bezalel. Rugs made at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem between 1906 and 1931. These rugs, produced by Jewish weavers, showed traditional Jewish ritual motifs, scenes from the Old Testament and conventional Persian designs. They were in scribed in Hebrew “Bezalel Yerushalem” or “Marvadia Yerushalem.” These rugs were woven with the asymmetric knot. See “synagogue rug.”
Bezalel rug Sothebys
Bhadohi, Badahoi. A city of northern India near Mirzapur and Benares. It is one of the major modern rug production centers of India. Bhadohi rugs are generally copies of Persian models with floral motifs. These rugs are woven on a cotton foundation using the asymmetric knot at densities between 30 and 225 knots per square inch.
The Bhadohi method of counting knots is uniquely complicated. A knot count is represented thus: 5/40. The first figure (5) is termed bis. It produces the horizontal or weft-wise knot count. Bis times 11% added to the bis is the horizontal or weft-wise knot count. Thus (5x.11)+5=5.55 knots per inch weft-wise. Bhutan is the term for the second figure (40). It produces the vertical or warp-wise knot count. Bhutan times 33.3% added to the bhutan and divided by 6 is the vertical or warp-wise knot count. Thus: ((40x.333)+40)/6=8.88 knots per inch warp-wise. The knot density represented by 5/40 is 5.55x8.88 or 48.8 knots per square inch. See “India.”
Bhutan. A country located between Tibet to the north and India on the south. Bhutan is the source of rugs woven by Tibetan refugees who settled there after the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959.
bhutan. See “Bhadohi.”
bibibaff (Persian, “grandmother’s weave”). Particularly fine weaving of Chahâr Mahâl. See “Chahâr Mahâl.”
Bibikabad, Ainabad. A village of the Hamadan region of Iran, northeast of Hamadan city. Rugs of this village often have boteh or Herati designs. They are single-wefted and woven with the symmetric knot. See “Hamadan.”
Bibikabad rug Jason Nazmiyal
Bidgeneh. A village of northwest Iran and a source of rugs similar to those of Bijâr. These are medallion rugs with pendants and spandrels.
Bidjar. See “Bijâr.”
Bidjov. See “Bijov.”
Bid Majnun. See “weeping willow design.”
Bigelow, Erastus Brigham (1814-1879). The American inventor of power looms for Brussels, Wilton, tapestry, and velvet carpeting. He established weaving mills in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. His looms and mills greatly increased rug production in the 1840s.
Bijâr, Bidjar. A town of northwest Iran surrounded by many rug-weaving villages whose output is also labeled “Bijâr.” The area is inhabited by Kurds. Rugs of Bijâr and its immediate area are woven in a wide variety of patterns. Usually, in early rugs, three wefts are hammered down with heavy combs. One of these wefts is usually very heavy, so these rugs are very stiff due to great vertical knot packing. Later rugs have two wefts. Warps are completely offset and the knot is symmetric at densities of about 100 to 160 per square inch. Formerly, wool foundation was used. Contemporary rugs have a cotton foundation.
Bijâr was the source of a group of fine arabesque (Garrus design) rugs woven in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Rugs with a stylized willow and cypress design were woven in Bijâr in the early twentieth century. Bijâr samplers are relatively common compared to samplers from other areas of Persia. Bijâr kilims are woven with the slit weave tapestry structure. Designs of large Bijâr kilims are sometimes similar to those of Bijâr pile weaves. Smaller kilims are similar in design to those of Senneh. See “Garrus design,” “Kurdish rugs,” and “split leaf arabesque.”
Bijâr rug (detail) Jason Nazmiyal
Bijov, Bidjov. A town located near Shemakha in the Caucasus. This is a design of nineteenth-century rugs of the Shirvân region which consists of a vertical arrangement of nested bracketing elements. Rugs of this design are the most coarsely woven (averaging 94 symmetric knots per square inch) of Shirvân rugs. Bijov design rugs are also the largest of Shirvân rugs. They are woven on an all-wool foundation. See “Shirvân.”
Bijov rug (detail) Grogan and Company
Bildrev (Norwegian). Early Norwegian tapestries, often portraying biblical scenes.
Bilverdi. A town of Persian Azerbaijan west of Heriz. Rugs of Bilverdi are woven in the Heriz design, with the symmetric knot and single wefts. See “Heriz.”
binding. An edge or selvage treatment for rugs in which edge warps are wrapped with yarn to protect and strengthen them after the rug is woven. Less desirably, machine stitching may be used for this purpose. See “overcasting” and “serging.”
Binding
Biographies. See entries under these names:
Ballard, James Franklin
Beattie, May H.
Benguiat, Vitall
Bigelow, Erastus B.
Bode, Wilhelm von
Dudin, Samul Martynovich
Edwards, A. Cecil
Ellis, Charles Grant
Erdmann, Kurt
Ettinghausen, Richard
Jenkins, Arthur D.
Jones, H. McCoy
Markarian, Richard B.
Martin, F.R.
McMullan, Joseph V.
Morris, William
Moshkova, V.G.
Myers, George Hewitt
Pinner, Robert H.
Pope, Arthur Upham
Schürmann, Ulrich
Tiffany, Louis Comfort
Tuduc, Theodore
Von Bode, Wilhelm
Voysey, Charles
Yerkes, Charles Tyson
bird asmalyks. Rare Tekke asmalyks with a repeated pattern of birds within a lattice of serrated leaves. The field is red and borders are white with a meandering vine motif. See “asmalyk.”
Bird asmalyk motif
Bird asmalyk (Tekke) J. Barry O’Connell
bird head border. A border design in Kurdish and Persian tribal rugs with many variations. This same border is occasionally used as a field repeat.
Bird head border
Bird Ushak. A group of sixteenth and seventeenth-century rugs woven in Ushak, Anatolia. Their common design feature is a repeated arrangement of four leaves or “birds” radiating from a blossom on a white field. The earliest known representation is in a rug in a painting by Hans Mielich done in 1557. These rugs usually have lines of reversing wefts or “lazy lines” on the back.
Bird Ushak motif
Birjand. A city of the Qainat region of eastern Iran. Rugs were woven on a factory basis in Birjand from the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of the rugs produced before World War II were Jufti knotted with poor wearing quality. The Jufti asymmetric knot is used at a density of about 100 knots per square inch on a wool foundation. Older pieces have higher knot densities. Later rugs have a cotton foundation. See “Qainat.”
Birjand rug
birth symbol. A diamond with two in-curving arms at each end. This ancient motif is found in many weavings of Asia and the Near East. It is a common motif in Anatolian kilims.
Birth symbol
bis. See “Bhadohi.”
black. In Near Eastern weavings, this color may be produced by synthetic dyes, by vegetable dyes, or by the use of naturally black wool. As vegetable dyes, oak bark, oak galls, acorn cups, or walnut hulls were used with an iron mordant to produce black or brown. Wool so dyed is subject to etching. Naturally dark wool or dyed wool might be over-dyed with indigo to produce black. See “etching.”
black Baluchi. Refers to Baluchi rugs with a very dark palette. The designs of such rugs are not easily visible except in very bright light.
black light. See “ultra-violet light.”
black Marasalis. Marasali prayer rugs with a black or very dark field. See “Marasali.”
blanket dress. Traditional Navajo dress for women made of two identical blankets sewn at the shoulders and sides. See “Navajo rugs.”
blanket stitch, buttonhole stitch. A stitch using a single strand that loops through itself. This stitch may be used, very closely spaced, to strengthen edges or selvages or it may be used, more widely spaced, at the end of a weaving to prevent wefts from unraveling.
Blanket stitch
blankets, covers, sleeping rugs.
See the following entries:
bar
churga
colcha embroidery
farda
frach
frazada
hamel
huli
k’ang cover
karolya
khaden
kopan
moj
Navajo rugs
neyden
pardaghy
postaghi
pound blankets
blazon. An armorial bearing or heraldic device.
bleaching. Dyes in rugs may fade due to exposure to sunlight. Rugs may be deliberately bleached through a chemical wash. Chemical bleaching was used to produce the so-called “golden Afghans” and “golden Shirvans.” Red Afghan rugs were bleached to a shade of yellow to satisfy market demand before yellow-dyed yarns were actually used in these rugs. Some Sarouks were bleached and then painted to satisfy color tastes of the American market. Bleaching is accomplished through a variety of chemical agents. These include oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide, acids such as sulfuric acid, alkalis such as ammonia and lye, and chlorine and its compounds. See “burning,” “chemical wash,” “strip”, “tip fading,” “ultraviolet light,” and “patina.”
bleeding, running. Dyes that are improperly fixed or dyed yarn that has been inadequately washed after dyeing may bleed or run into other colors in a finished rug. Some red dyes are particularly susceptible to running. There are chemical washes that effectively remove some red dyes from areas into which they have run.
blocking. See “tentering.”
bloom. To add ingredients to the dye bath which increase the brightness of colors.
Blossom carpet. See “floral carpet.”
blue. A primary color. In Near Eastern weavings, this color may be produced by synthetic or vegetable dyes. By far the most common blue dye is indigo. See “indigo.”
bobbin. A cylinder, spindle, or spool on which yarn, thread, or roving may be wound during the spinning or weaving process.
Bode, Wilhelm von. 1845-1929. German scholar, founder of the Museum for Islamic Art, Berlin, rug collector, and author of the first comprehensive treatise on the classic period of oriental rugs, Vorderasiatische Knüpfteppiche aus alterer Zeit, published in 1902.
body Brussels carpet. A loop pile rug in which different color warps are brought to the surface to form the pattern. Because colored warps are continuous beneath the pile, they provide “body” or thickness and weight to the rug.
bogu. A Chinese rug motif consisting of representations of bronze, jade, or porcelain vessels and other antique objects.
bohça. See “bokche.”
bokche, bohça, boqcheh (Turk.). A Turkmen envelope-like bag consisting of a square flatweave with pile woven triangles at each side of the rectangle. The triangular pieces are folded inwards to form a container. In general, any square piece of cloth used as a carrying bag for many different items.
Turkmen bokche Dr. Herbert J. Exner
Ottoman embroidered bohça Sothebys
Bokhara, Bukhara. An ancient city and emirate of West Turkestan, presently in Uzbekistan. The name is popularly used to describe any rug, Turkmen or otherwise, with designs consisting of or derived from Turkmen guls. Bokhara was an important rug trading and shipping center in the nineteenth century. A few scholars have attributed rugs to Bokhara, but such attributions are questioned.
Boldaji. A small town south of the Chahâr Mahâl region in western Iran. It is a source of Bakhtiari panel design rugs.
Bolvardi. See “Bulvardi.”
Bombyx mori. The domesticated silkworm moth. See “silk.”
Borchalu. A tribe of the Hamadan region of Iran. Contemporary rugs of this tribe have curvilinear, floral medallions. They are single-wefted and woven with the symmetric knot at a density of about 65 per square inch. The foundation is cotton and wefts may be blue. See “Borjalou” and “Hamadan.”
border. A design around the edge of a rug and enclosing the field. The border usually includes a wide band of repeating design called the main border and subsidiary borders called guard stripes. See the following entries:
| ashik | lab-i mazar |
| bala-khachi | leaf and calyx |
| barberpole border | Laleh Abbasi |
| bird head border | medahil |
| broken border | meander borders |
| carnation border | Naldag border |
| cartouche border | palmette border |
| chamtos | pearl border |
| check border | Qashqa’i frieze |
| chichi border | rainbow border |
| crab border | reciprocating border |
| crenellated border | rosette border |
| cloud band border | running dog border |
| çubuklu | sainak |
| curled leaf border | sari gira border |
| dagdan | sawtooth border |
| elibilinde | “S” borders |
| flag border | shekeri border |
| fret | soldat border |
| Greek key | split leaf arabesque |
| gul-i badam | swastika border |
| Herati border | T band |
| koca baş | turtle border |
| kufesque |
Bordjalou. See “Borjalou.”
Borjalou, Bordjalou. A town located south of Tiflis (Tbilisi) in the Caucasus. Originally, this was a settlement for Borchalu tribespeople deported by Shah Abbas from the Hamadan district in the seventeenth century (cf. “Borchalu”).
Nineteenth-century rugs attributed to Borjalou often have broad zig-zag borders with latch hooks projecting from both sides of the border. Rugs of Borjalou are classified as Kazak. Borjalou is the most coarsely knotted of the Kazak design types, with about 52 symmetric knots per square inch.
Average area is about 35 square feet. About half of Borjalou rugs have red wefts. Those with blue wefts are of later production. See “Borchalu” and “Kazak.”
Borjalou Kazak Sothebys
Borodjert. See “Borujerd.”
borpush (Uzbek, from Persian, meaning “load cover”). A Central Asian embroidery similar to a suzani, but smaller. It is often square.
Borujerd, Barujird, Borodjert, Borujird. A market center in northwest Iran for rugs of the area. These rugs are single-wefted with the symmetric knot. They have dark red designs on a dark blue field.
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Formerly, a large political subdivision of east central Yugosla via. Now, an independent state. This region was a source of kilims very similar to those of Turkey. These kilims were used as carpets and bed covers.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosque Redondo. See “Navajo rugs.”
boteh, buta, ( Persian “bush”), badem, (Turk. “almond”). A pear-shaped figure common in oriental rug design. There are a great many variations, ranging from elaborate and highly detailed interpretations to simple, geometricized versions. Usually, this motif is used in the field as an all-over repeat pattern. It has been thought to represent a leaf, a bush, a flame, or a pine cone. It probably originated in Kashmir. The boteh is characteristic of the Paisley pattern. See “islimi,” “Kashmir,” “mir boteh,” “mother and daughter boteh,” and “Paisley.”
TOP ROW: Serabend, Karabagh, Marasali, Qashqa’i
BOTTOM ROW: Talish, Genje, Beshir, India Botehs
bottom. In knotted rugs, the end of the rug towards which the knot ends or pile were pulled when the rug was woven. The end of the rug woven first.
boucherouite, boucherwit, (Arabic bu sherwit “scrap”). Moroccan Berber rugs made from scraps of clothing and other fabrics.
Boucherouite rug Alberto Levi
bouclé. A three-ply yarn, with one ply looser than the others, resulting in a rough fabric when woven.
bouharopodia (Greek, “chimney apron”). A flatwoven hanging of three panels stitched together and used above the fireplace in northern Greece.
Bou Sbaa. See “Oulad Bou Sbâa.”
Bowanat, Bavânât. A market center of southwest Iran for rugs of Arab tribes in the area. These rugs have designs that are sim plified versions of Qashqa’i designs.
Bowanat rug (detail) Manouchehr Haghighat
boy (Turk., “family, class”). Ancient tribal grouping making up the Oghuz Turkmen confederation.
boya (Turk.). Dye.
Boyer Ahmadi. See “Lurs.”
Brahui. The Brahuis are an ethnic group of Baluchistan often associated with the Baluchis. Their language is of the Dravidian family, akin to Tamil and other languages of south India, and unrelated to Baluchi, which is of the Iranian family. The Brahuis inhabit areas of Afghanistan. Pile rugs have been attributed to the Brahuis.
braid. A structure of oblique interlacing of a single set of elements, usually a narrow structure in one direction. No special tools are used in the process. Braids or braided structures are used in the end finish of rugs, in closures or fasteners for bags, and as ties for animal trappings. “Plaiting” is sometimes used interchangeably with “braiding.” More strictly, plaiting is oblique interlacing of two or more sets of elements in two or more directions. See “oblique interlacing” and “plaiting.”
braided rugs. Strips of cloth with edges folded inward are braided together and then the braids are wound to produce a circular or oval rug. The braids may be stitched together or otherwise linked. Usually, waste or used fabric was braided for the rug. This is an early American form of rug.
Braided rug Jason Nazmial
Braila. A city of Romania on the Danube and a major contemporary rug-weaving center. Also, a trade designation of quality for contemporary Romanian rugs with cotton foundation and a knot density of about 100 per square inch. See “Romania.”
Bran. A trade designation of quality for contemporary
Romanian pile rugs. These rugs are knotted on a wool foundation with knot densities of about 60 per square inch. See “Romania.”
Braşov, (Hungarian Brassó), Kronstadt. A city of Romania and a contemporary trade designation of quality for Romanian rugs with woolen foundation and a knot density of about 100 per square inch. Inventory records show that hundreds of Turkish carpets were imported into the city during the early sixteenth century. The “Black Church” of Braşov held more than 100 of these “Transylvanian” carpets it received as gifts. See “Transylvania.”
brazilwood dye. A dye made from any of a variety of leguminous trees of the genus Caesalpinia. The dye produces purple, red and black shades. The dye was a major export of colonial Brazil. This dye was used in early Chinese rugs.
brazilwood
breast beam, cloth beam. The lower beam of a vertical loom. The beam nearest the weaver in any loom where the weaver has a fixed position. On a horizontal loom, the beam nearest the weaver’s first weft. See “beam.”
(British) East India Company. Strictly, “The Honorable East India Company.” A company founded in England in 1600 to conduct trade with India. The trade included carpets woven in India. The Company’s first carpet factory was established in Masulipatam in 1611. The British East India Company played a significant role in India carpet production and trade into the middle of the nineteenth century. See “India.”
India Company Arms of the East
broadloom. A power-loomed rug. More specifically, a power-loomed rug in a solid color and/or more than 54 inches in width.
brocade. A patterning in a fabric achieved with interlaced supplementary wefts. Supplementary wefts may be continuous or discontinuous. The term is incorrectly applied to weft wrapping structures. Brocade and weft wrapping may occur in the same weaving. The term may be used to indicate patterning with metallic threads. See “embroidery,” “extra weft patterning,” “overlay brocading” and “overlay-underlay brocading.”
Brocade
broche carpet. A wool carpet of clipped and looped pile. Patterning is provided by the clipped areas. See “cut-and-loop.”
broken border. A border which is not confined by a straight line around the field. The border design may occasionally penetrate the field or a field design may break into the border. Some Kerman rugs, some French rugs, and some Chinese rugs have such borders.
Broken border (Chinese rug detail) Jason Nazmiyal
Brousa. See “Bursa.”
Brousse. See “Bursa”
brown. In Near Eastern weavings, this color may be produced by a variety of natural dyes or, more rarely, it may be the natural brown color of sheep’s wool. Vegetable dyes for brown include oak bark and acorn cups, walnut husks and pomegranate rind. Cutch or catechu (the heartwood and pods of an Asiatic tree) is a brown dye used in Far Eastern weavings. Like black, natural brown dyes embrittle wool and produce etching when used with an iron mordant. See “etching.”
Brusa, Brussa. See “Bursa.”
Brussels. A power-loomed carpet in which extra warps are looped around wires in the weaving process. If the loops are left uncut, the rug is termed “Brussels.” In some looms, the wire is grooved and a knife, running down the groove, cuts the loops to form cut pile. In this case, the rug is termed “Wilton.” The Brussels carpet process was developed in Brussels in about 1710.
Bucharest. A trade designation of quality for contemporary Romanian rugs with cotton foundation and a knot count of about 70 knots per square inch.
buckles. Ridges or wrinkles in a carpet due to improper installation or weaving faults. See “cockle,” “cornrowing,” and “grinning.”
buckthorn. Rhamnus petiolaris. The unripe berries of this shrub produce a yellow dye with an alum mordant.
Buckthorn
Buddha’s Hand, foshou. An Asiatic fruit, citrus medica, whose form suggests a hand. It is sometimes represented in Chinese and Tibetan rugs and symbolizes wealth and honor.
Buddha’s Hand
Buddhist symbols. A collection of eight “precious things” or “treasures” symbolic of good fortune and emblematic of Buddhism. They are used singly or collectively as motifs in Chinese and Tibetan rugs. The symbols are the wheel, conch, umbrella, canopy, lotus, vase, fish and Ch’ang or endless knot. See entries under these names. See “Confucian symbols” and “Taoist symbols.”
Bukhara, Bokhara. A city of Uzbekistan populated by Uzbeks and Tajiks. The city is a source of suzanis woven by Tajiks. Turkmen rugs are erroneously referred to as “Bokharas.”
Bulgaria, Thrace. A country of southeast Europe. Bulgaria was a source of nineteenth-century rugs made in imitation of the Gördes prayer rug. Bulgaria is a minor source of contemporary pile rugs with floral designs based on Persian models. These rugs are woven in Kotel and Panagiurishte. Bulgarian kilims are sometimes referred to as “Thracian.” The slit-weave tapestry structure is most common. Red is dominant and colors are stronger than those of Turkish kilims. Nineteenth-century sources of kilims include these towns: Berekovica, Chiprovtsy, Gabrovo, Kotel, Samokov, Şarköy, Sliven, Sumen, Teteven, and Zaribrod. There are some antique kilims with Bulgarian inscriptions. West Bulgarian kilims are finely woven and employ curvilinear wefts. East Bulgarian kilims are more coarsely woven, with darker colors than those from the west, and they are more like Anatolian kilims. Contemporary kilims are woven in Chiprovtsi. See “Cerga,” “Kotel,” and “Şarköy.”
Bulgarian kilim (detail) Kazim Yildiz
buli. In Bangladesh, memorized verbal instructions for the creation of a specific pattern by a weaver. See “talim.”
Bulvardi, Balvardi, Bolvardi. A subtribe of the Qashqa’i. They reside near Shiraz in southwest Iran. See “Qashqa’i.”
Bünyan. See “Kayseri.”
Burdur. A town of western Anatolia and a source of rugs in designs based on Persian models with modern colors. Knot densities are about 130 knots per square inch on a cotton foundation. The asymmetric knot is used.
Burdur rug (detail) Yurdan
burling. Inspecting and repairing newly-woven factory-produced rugs. More specifically, hand-tufting void areas that occur in power-loomed rugs.
burning. When caustic solutions are used to fade a rug, an excessively strong solution may fuse some wool fibers in the pile. This condition is termed “burning.”
burn test. Used to determine the type of fiber in rugs. A very small sample is exposed to flame. Bright burning, the smell of burning paper, and a fragile, fine ash indicate cotton. Barely sustains flame, strong odor of burning hair, and ash in an elongated ball indicate wool. Does not sustain flame, indistinct smell, and small ash ball indicate silk.
Burnt Water. See “Pine Springs.”
Bursa, Brusa, Brousse, Prusa. A town of northwest Anatolia, south of Istanbul. Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire and Ottoman court rugs may have been woven there in the late sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, Bursa was the source of rugs made in imitation of the Gördes prayer rug. Silk production from Bursa is used in contemporary Turkish rugs.
buta. See “boteh.”
butterfly. In Chinese rugs, the butterfly symbolizes marital bliss.
Chinese butterflies
butterfly saddle rugs. Tibetan saddle rugs woven in a trapezoidal shape. The corners of the shorter parallel edge may be rounded. The overall shape suggests a butterfly with spread wings.
Butterfly saddle rug Jason Nazmiyal
button rugs. Rugs made by taking a fabric disk, folding it in quarters, and stitching the point to a backing material. This was an early American method for home-made rugs.
