BULLETIN - Digital Resource Commons - Oberlin College

BULLETIN 

ALLEN M E M O R I A L ART MUSEUM 

OBERLIN COLLEGE XXXVI. 1. 1978 79

U33 og2 '|*I6 XL 2140

S65I63

A L L E N M E M O R I A L A R T MUSEUM BULLETIN 

Catalogue of Islamic Carpets

The Museum gratefully acknowledges 

the support of the Ohio Arts Council and the 

Near Eastern Art Research Center, Inc. 

COVER: Turkish, Ladik, Prayer Rug, no. 23 

Published twice a year by the Allen Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. 19-00 a year; mailed 

free to members of the Oberlin Friends of Art. back issues available from the Museum, and on microfilm 

from University Microfilm, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. 

Printed by the Press of the Times, Oberlin, Ohio 

Copyright © 1978, Allen Memorial Art Museum 

ISSN: 0002-3739

A L L E N M E M O R I A L A R T M U S E U M 

BULLETIN 

Foreword 

VOLUME XXXVI, NUMBER 1, 1978-79 

Islamic Carpets from the Museum Collection 

by Chloe H. Young - - - - - - - - 4 

Introduction to the Exhibition 

by Richard Ettinghausen . . . . . . . 6 

Introduction to the Catalogue 

by Ernest H. Roberts - - - - - - - - 9 

Map - - - - - 11 

Definitions & Explanations - - - - - - - - 12 

Selected Bibliography - - - - - - - - 14 

Catalogue 

by Ernest H. Roberts 16 

Persia - - - - - - - - - - 17 

Turkey - - - - - - - - - - 44 

The Caucasus - - - - - - - - - 73 

Transcaspia-Turkoman (USSR) - - - - - - 87 

India 105 

China-Mongolia - - - - - - - - 107 

Oberlin Friends of Art - - - - - - - - 114 

Staff 115

Foreword 

This issue of the Bulletin comprises a catalogue of the permanent collection of Islamic carpets in the 

Allen Memorial Art Museum. 1 All but one of the sixty-one carpets in the collection are eighteenth- and 

nineteenth-century examples from Persia, Turkey, the Caucasus, the Transcaspia, and China. Just one 

was made outside of these main rug-producing areas: The Indian Herat (no. 66), which is also the earliest 

rug in the collection. The acquisition by the College of fifty-eight of the sixty-one rugs pre-dates the 

existence of the Allen Art Museum, which opened in 1917. They were all acquired by gift, and for the 

most part the names of their donors read as a register of Oberlin College's major benefactors: Charles 

Martin Hall, Frederick Norton Finney, Judge Madison W. Beacom, Charles F. Olney. 

On page 1 of the student newspaper of January 8, 1915, the Oberlin Review (the first issue to 

come out after the Christmas holidays), there appeared two death announcements that were of particular 

note to the College community: Charles Martin Hall, Class of 1885, had died on December 27 at 

age fifty-one in Daytona, Florida, and Dudley Peter Allen had died in New York on January 6. The 

significance of their benefactions to Oberlin College are widely known today, as they were then. This 

Museum was built in commemoration of Allen and bears his name. A trustee of the College and an 

eminent surgeon in Cleveland, Dr. Allen was extremely interested that a building be erected at Oberlin 

to house its growing art collections and art department and approved the plans presented by the College 

architect, Cass Gilbert, just before he died. Dr. Allen's widow continued her husband's wishes and 

provided the funds to enable Gilbert to complete the commission by 1917. 

Charles Martin Hall was educated in Oberlin. The story has often been told of his discovery, a year 

after he graduated from College, of the commercial process for producing aluminum. He died a famous 

and rich man and bequeathed to Oberlin the major portion of his estate: a sum that nearly doubled 

the then current endowment, with other sums specified for particular uses, and, as he wrote in his will, 

several art works, "and any rugs, up to the number of fifty ... for which suitable provision be made 

said bequest for their perpetual care in order to preserve them from moths, handling by visitors 

or other menaces thereto, it being my desire that they be preserved unimpaired for the benefit of future 

generations." 

The Allen Art Museum took over their "perpetual care" when the new building opened its doors 

in 1917. Previous to that they had been exhibited at the Men's Building (now Wilder), a space often 

used for art exhibitions by the Art Department. The rugs formed a nucleus of a collection that was 

sparse in other forms of art, excepting the Hudson River paintings and several somewhat (now) disreputable 

"old masters" from the Olney Bequest of 1904. For many years the Hall Bequest was hung in 

its entirety, but as the Museum gradually acquired paintings, the Museum walls began to fill and the 

rugs were kept more and more in storage, brought out for the occasional visitor who requested to see 

4

them, or to hang temporarily in the sculpture court to baffle the hyperactive acoustics during concerts 

or dances — routine happenings during the early days of the Museum. 

Their reappraisal as a unique and valuable part of the Museum's holdings coincided with the arrival 

of Ernest Roberts as a resident of Oberlin. An Elyria businessman, Mr. Roberts began to collect 

rugs about fifteen years ago. As he acquired them he trained his eye on the Museum examples, studied 

and travelled widely, immersing himself in the field. Mr. Roberts has since become one of the major 

rug collectors of this country. He is a member of many rug societies and a trustee of the Textile Museum, 

Washington, D.C. His knowledge and enthusiasm for the Museum's rug collection he has graciously 

shared with the Museum staff, and he agreed to give that knowledge a more permanent form by 

writing the present catalogue. 

While the majority of the rugs belonging to Oberlin come from the Hall Bequest, the Museum 

owns fourteen rugs that come from other donors. Four are from the Charles F. Olney Bequest. Olney 

was a prominent Cleveland educator who had a gallery built on his estate to house his vast collection of 

artifacts and art, which all came to Oberlin in 1904. One was bequeathed by Frederick Norton Finney, 

son of the second president of Oberlin College and donor of Finney Chapel on campus. Six belonged 

to Madison W. Beacom, Oberlin graduate and a Common Pleas Judge for Cuyahoga County in 1903-9- 

(He was also intrumental in raising funds for the Oberlin College Library to buy seventy-three plates 

from Audubon's great folio edition of Birds of North America and furnished the director's office at the 

Museum with an excellent Sheraton table and sofa purchased in England.) One each was given by Florence 

Fitch, professor at Oberlin College and a noted children's book author, Mrs. Dudley Blossom, 

prominent Cleveland philanthropist, and by Ernest H. Roberts, author of this catalogue, and Marcia 

Roberts. The Roberts' rug was acquired several years ago from the Wolfgang Stechow family: a Caucasian 

Sile which was used by the workers at Pergamon to wrap fragments of that famous altar when they 

were being shipped to the Berlin Museum. The catalogue also includes ten carpets not yet part of the 

permanent collection which are promised as future gifts. 

The Museum staff would like to express its gratitude to Ernest H. Roberts for his preparation of 

the following catalogue. It also wishes to thank Dr. Richard Ettinghausen of the Islamic Department of 

the Metropolitan Museum for contributing an introduction; Robert Stillwell of Oberlin, who photographed 

the collection; and the Textile Museum, for permission to use its map showing the weaving regions 

of the Near East and the list of "Definitions and Explanations," prepared by Louise Mackie, both 

of which appeared in Prayer Rugs, published by that museum in 1974. 

Chloe H. Young 

1 On the occasion of its publication there is an exhibition of a portion of the collection in the Stern Gallery of the Museum 

between September 23 and October 22, 1978. 

5

Introduction to the Exhibition 

It is always exciting to visit an art exhibition. One sees the masterpieces first met in reproductions 

in classrooms or in books but now one is confronted by originals with their delicacy of lines or magnificence 

of color. And yet still another emotional sensation can occur if the show deals with a type of art 

object one personally owns so that one can compare them with the exhibited pieces. This happens, unfortunately, 

only rarely because few people have a Rubens, a Renoir or a piece of Renaissance jewelry in 

their home. A show of Oriental carpets is, however, an opportunity for such a very fine esthetic encounter 

because nearly everybody owns at least one or two pieces or remembers the family's treasured 

Oriental rug. 

The present exhibition is probably the first in Oberlin to be dedicated exclusively to the Oriental 

carpet. As an art form and as study objects, carpets have, however—thanks to the generous gift of 

nineteenth-century carpets of Charles Martin Hall in 1915—formed a valuable part of the holdings of 

the Allen Memorial Art Museum (see the article of Ernest H. Roberts on "Colour and Design in Islamic 

Carpets" in the February 1976 Apollo, devoted to this Museum). It would, however, be wrong to consider 

this showing as an isolated, local phenomenon. Actually the interest in carpets shown in Oberlin 

is just one more example of the fascination which these artistic products have continuously exerted on 

Western man for approximately the last seven hundred years. It is true that even before, in the early 

Middle Ages, silks, rock crystals and ivories had been brought back from the Near East by pilgrims to 

be given to cathedrals and churches. It was only in the late thirteenth century that the less portable 

Oriental carpets, too, began to find an eager public. This we know from their representation in frescoes 

and easel paintings, first in Italy, but then in many other European countries. They, too, were given as 

special offerings to churches and therefore were represented in sacred settings, ususally placed under the 

throne of the Madonna, below the feet of saints or hanging from windows or balustrades on holy days. 

Churches in Rumania still hold about five hundred carpets of the seventeenth and eighteenth century 

and those of Hungary about one hundred, while the churches of Italy and Spain, once the great treasure 

houses for such antique pieces, have lost practically all their holdings to museums and collectors. In 

the Renaissance, carpets became coveted properties of rulers and nobility, but soon afterwards the rising 

merchant class incorporated them in their household furnishings—particularly as table covers — and this 

happened both in the Old and the New World, as contemporary paintings clearly indicate. They have 

always been more than just colorful embellishments of the home, as they were regarded as status symbols 

and still hold this esteemed position to this day, especially in Europe. 

Recently a curious turn of events has taken place. Originally the ancient carpets of the Near East 

had been brought to Europe mainly as gifts to ruling houses or had arrived by commercial channels. 

From the late nineteenth century on many pieces had made the voyage across the ocean to land in 

American museums or the homes of connoisseurs. In the last decade they are, however, now being 

bought back by Near Eastern collectors. So it has come to pass that beautiful carpets made three hundred, 

two hundred or even one hundred years ago and which were the properties of the Italian Doria 

6

family, the Paris Rothschilds, the Rockefellers of New York or of Norton Simon of Los Angeles, have 

now found a new home in the Carpet Museum in Teheran, organized under the patronage of the Shahbanou 

of Iran. There is also the case of a fine Egyptian carpet of the late Mamluk period which had 

once belonged to a well-known European collector and was recently sold at a London auction to a 

Kuwaiti prince in spite of strong Western bidding. 

It was in the last quarter of the nineteenth century that scholars matched existing carpets found in 

churches, royal palaces or the stately homes of the nobility of Europe with representations of carpets 

shown in old paintings. By doing so they rediscovered the classical carpet, an art form which as late as 

1877 had been thought to be lost forever. The excitement of this revelation brought about an avid interest 

in old carpets. This was the beginning of the public collections in the West, of which the finest 

and most extensive are in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Decorative Arts 

in Vienna, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Philadelphia Museum. In certain 

instances splendid collections were made by single collectors, specifically by George H. Myers (now the 

Textile Musuem in Washington); Calouste Gulbenkian (now the Museu Gulbenkian of Lisbon); and 

Dr. Edmund de Unger in London (the Keir Collection). Due to the initial impetus given to this type 

of collecting, the pieces are all from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century and only the Victoria and 

Albert Museum included — at least in its study collection — a certain number of later carpets. 

After World War II this preference for antique pieces changed because ancient carpets had become 

scarce and the prices had gone well beyond the reach of the ordinary collector, who, nevertheless, still 

continued to love the medium. A pioneer in this respect was the late Joseph V. McMullan (1896-1973) 

who was very fond of nineteenth century Turkish village rugs which "sometimes crudely, but always 

honestly and forthrightly" reflected earlier traditions (though this eminent American connoisseur spurned 

the more common types of Anatolian prayer rugs). Consequently he included these so far neglected 

forms of a more popular art in his book Islamic Carpets, which otherwise contained mostly his splendid 

collection of ancient carpets. He also studied and published with Donald O. Reichert the nineteenthcentury 

carpets collected by George Walter Vincent and Belle Townsley Smith, and given by them to 

the Springfield (Mass.) Art Museum. It was only too true what Joe McMullan said in the "Introduction" 

to this catalogue: "Rugs of this (later) period have been sadly neglected in scholarly publications, but 

at last are coming to be recognized on their merits." 

Various exhibitions in the Textile Museum of Washington and elsewhere, especially of Turkoman 

carpets, have further fostered this new interest in later carpets. Recently the University of Washington 

held an exhibition of Oriental carpets and weavings from the Pacific Northwest collections. The publication 

brought about by this event. The Warp and Weft of Islam (a catalogue with seven introductory 

essays, edited by Jere L. Bacharach and Irene A. Bierman), is one more indication that the special interest 

in carpets is not centered on the East Coast. The most important indication of this collecting trend 

is the vast new Carpet Museum in Teheran. It has a small classical group but presents mostly large, 

perfectly preserved nineteenth-century carpets, many of them garnered from the Gulistan Palace of the 

preceding Kajar Dynasty. The present exhibition in Oberlin falls, therefore, in this new category and 

by bringing out this well-illustrated catalogue, it clearly demonstrates its dedication to the cause. 

The foregoing has shown that Americans are particularly concerned and even deeply involved with 

the Oriental carpet. This is due to a large number of very fine public collections throughout the country, 

including one of the very few to be found anywhere exclusively dedicated to carpets and textiles—that 

7

of the Textile Museum in Washington; to a number of scholars and writers in the field; and, last but 

not least, to a fairly large group of devoted collectors who were always glad to show their treasures in 

special exhibitions. This ever-mounting interest has led to a very specific American phenomenon: the 

founding of rug societies or Hajji Baba Clubs, all of which are very active and meet regularly for lectures 

or discussions of carpets. There are two such groups in New York and one each in Washington, D.C., 

Providence, Princeton, Richmond (Va.), Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis. In addition there is a national 

meeting of members each fall for an International Rug Conference held in the Textile Museum. 

Visitors from abroad to these gatherings have been so impressed that they felt inspired to found similar 

societies in Germany and Iran, and they also inaugurated International Rug Conferences which have so 

far met in London and Munich (the last one being attended by more than 400 persons). 

In conclusion it might be proper to ask just why carpets have exerted such a long fascination on the 

Western mind. They are colorful and always varied in their designs, and thus transform an ordinary, 

even bare room into a sprightly setting. They are comfortable and durable. They come in all sizes and 

prices and since many are of small measurements, they can easily be put in at least one spot which 

needs to be brightened. What is finally of great importance is the fact that whatever the design, it is 

pleasant and of neutral character. The pieces, whatever they are, fit therefore in any Western setting. 

The final question is probably one which many may have had on their lips but have not quite 

wished to ask. How does one recognize rug styles? Because carpets have been made for centuries in 

many regions and hundreds of places and in many designs, one can easily see that an answer cannot be 

readily given. There is also still a world-wide discussion about the origins of many carpet types, and the 

fancy and often varying designations given to carpets by dealers confuse the issue further. Still at least 

some initial hints on how to approach a carpet seem to be appropriate. This is not an easy task, as our 

traditional training in the fine arts makes us aware of the basic iconographic groupings (portrait, landscape, 

still life, etc.) or of the various styles involved. So it is only natural that one would be perplexed 

as to how to evaluate the purely ornamental design of a carpet. 

The average viewer of an exhibition most likely is not interested in technical details but will be 

satisfied to know whether the carpet has been created by knotting small pieces of wool or is flat woven. 

What interests him most specifically is the design. Here he will readily recognize that all carpets have a 

central field showing the major design and a framing border which in most carpets is in three parts, a 

larger central section accompanied by an inner and an outer guard stripe. Of specific interest will be 

how the border designs are adapted to the rather narrow space and how the artist manages to turn them 

around the corners, a clear indication of the artistic ability of the designer. It will also be of interest to 

the viewer to see whether or not the borders are coloristically contrasted to the main portion or at least 

take up one of the major colors of the main design. 

As to the field, all carpets can be divided into three major categories. They may show a continuous 

pattern, which in theory could be continued ad infinitum but is cut off by the framing border. They 

may have a centralized design with the middle of the field marked by a medallion, often accompanied 

in the vertical axis first by a cartouche-like lozenge and then by a shield or escutcheon. In many instances 

there is also a quarter medallion of the same type in the corners, which would imply that the 

pattern really continues but is again cut off by the border. There are, however, a good many instances 

where these corner decorations are missing so that the design is truly centralized. The third group shows 

an arch design, often with a hanging lamp, ewer or a floral arrangement. These are prayer carpets which 

8

always have this form, copied from the prayer niche in the mosque toward which the faithful turn 

during prayer, as it indicates the direction toward Mecca. 

The next step would be to establish what kind of patterns are used, and here the two major categories 

are the floral designs, occasionally enlivened by animals, and the geometric designs. It remains 

then only to establish how the individual designs are constructed in whichever of the three categories 

they are used. By following these various steps, one will get easily drawn into the intimate world of 

design and one will feel a certain thrill in unravelling the intentions of the artisan. 

Once familiar with these designs and how they vary, one is ready to study the classical carpet which 

provides the model or at least the inspiration for most of the modern carpets. Here the patterns are 

more clearly defined and the colors brighter. Since all the carpets usually belong to well-established 

types, it is also easier to establish the categories which are described in the books by Bode-Kiihnel, Erdmann, 

Dimand and others. These valuable ancient carpets are found in this country, particularly in New 

York, Philadelphia and Washington, and there will be little doubt that in these collections the explorer 

will be overwhelmed by the beauty of the carpets. All that is necessary is to begin the search somewhere. 

This exhibition in Oberlin offers a very good start. So have lots of fun. 

Richard Ettinghausen 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

New York University 

Introduction to the Catalogue 

The Allen Art Museum has a remarkable collection of Islamic carpets and can boast of being one 

of the few—perhaps the only—college or university-affiliated museums in America to have so distinguished 

and well-balanced an assemblage of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century oriental carpets, complemented 

by a seventeenth-century Herat-style rug from India. The collection is all the more extraordinary 

when one realizes (see Foreword) that it was not planned by a textile curator, or by anyone 

else for that matter. Fate alone seems to have selected this pleasing diversity of weavings. 

Recently, in a project undertaken by the author, seventy-eight rugs from the Museum collection 

were examined. Sixty-one choice examples were selected, photographed and technically analyzed for 

this catalogue. Most of the rugs are from small village or nomadic looms and possess the individual 

dignity which characterized the peoples from whom they come, as well as the design traditions which 

they carry on. The delicate, arabesque designs from the Persian area contrast sharply with the powerful, 

bold forms from Turkey, Turkestan and the Caucasus. The discipline of pattern and marriage of colors 

and weaving skills which characterize this collection represent the finest craftsmanship of their time. 

Historically, the use of rugs can be traced back to the ancient Near East. The Greeks, according to 

literary sources, were familiar with rugs from Babylonia and Persia. The earliest example of a piled textile 

to survive is the Pazyryk carpet found in 1948 by the renowned Russian anthropologist-archaeologist, 

S. I. Rudenko, in a Scythian burial mound of the fifth century B.C. The great period of rug manufacture 

began in the fifteenth century and spread throughout Egypt, India, Turkey, Persia, the Caucasus 

9

(USSR) and the Transcaspia (USSR). Museums and private collections the world over have examples of 

carpets with complex geometric designs made under the Mamluks of Egypt; Turkish court rugs which 

were styled originally in the middle of the sixteenth century during the reign of Sulayman the Magnificent 

and which continued to be manufactured in the seventeenth century under Sultan Ahmet; also 

carpets from the courts of the Mughals of India of a design and style developed during the reign of 

Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Most important are the Persian rugs made during the period of the royal 

workshops established in the reigns of Shah Tahmasp and Shah Abbas. This period heralded the beginning 

of a revolution in rug weaving and of high esteem for oriental rugs. 

Dates can occasionally be found on Persian or Turkish rugs. In Caucasian rugs, especially of the 

prayer type, dates occur more frequently, usually in the upper part of the rug on the right or left side. 

Some dates were copied from earlier rugs and are unreliable. A careful examination of the rug can reveal 

whether or not the date is close to the rug's age. 

Most dates are based on Islamic rather than Christian chronology and appear in Arabic figures. The 

following numerals, of which there are many modifications, are commonly found; they occur in both 

script and geometric form. 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 

^ r r 3 v a ? • 

i r r r o i v A i • 

Islamic chronology is based on the lunar year which is thirty-three days shorter than the solar year. 

To compute the date, one takes the number of the Islamic year and divides by 33, to the nearest figure; 

subtracts this figure from the Islamic year; then adds 622 (the year of the flight of Mohammed to 

Medina). 

(Example: ^rr? 1329 - 33 = 40 1329-40 = 1289 + 622 = the year 1911.) 

It is hoped that the oriental rugs in this catalogue will provide for us a better insight and understanding 

of a past world: a world of master craftsmen, weavers and artists whose achievements cannot 

be duplicated today. 

The author wishes to thank the many people whose combined efforts made this catalogue possible: 

Charles Grant Ellis, Research Associate, Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., May H. Beattie, Sheffield, 

England, and Ralph Yohe, Madison, Wisconsin, for sharing their valuable knowledge and comments 

while examining these rugs, and Katharine Watson, formerly curator at the Allen Art Museum, for her 

invaluable assistance in obtaining technical analysis. My thanks go also to the Museum staff for their 

help in the preparation of this catalogue. Their unstinting support has always made me feel an integral 

part of their world of art. Finally, I thank my wife Marcia, whose valuable assistance in the examination, 

photography, cleaning and making minor repairs of the rugs is only exceeded by her support, understanding 

and indulgence of my interests in oriental rugs. 

Ernest H. Roberts 

10

Definitions & Explanations 

S-rwist Z-twist I-"twist" 

S and Z The direction of the spin or twist of a yarn conforms, when viewed in a vertical position, 

to the diagonal of the letter S or the letter Z. 

I When there is no apparent twist in the yarn, its fibers conform to the vertical of the 

letter I. 

ply 

warp 

12 

The twisting together of two or more single yarns. The direction of ply is always apparent, 

while the direction of the original spin of the single yarns may be more difficult 

to determine. The direction of plying is usually opposite to the direction of the 

spin of the single yarns. 

Yarns that run lengthwise in a fabric from one end to the other, interlaced at right 

angles by the wefts, and around which the pile rug knots are wrapped. The warps in 

rugs are usually spun and plied for strength.

weft Yarns that run crosswise in a fabric from selvedge to selvedge, interlacing the warp at 

right angles. Unlike rug warps, rug wefts are often somewhat loosely spun and frequently 

not plied or very loosely plied. This allows the wefts to be firmly compacted 

and hold the rug knots securely in place. 

shot The passage of a weft across a fabric. In rugs, one or more weft shots, usually in plain 

weave, follow each horizontal row of knots. 

pile Yarns which project from the plane of a fabric to form a raised surface. The pile in 

rugs is composed of the cut ends (or loops) of the yarns which form the rug knots. 

rug knots Gordes (Ghiordes) or Senna or "Persian" Senna or "Persian" 

"Turkish" symmetri- asymmetrical, open asymmetrical, open 

cal on the left on the right 

weft-faced 

plain weave In plain weave, each weft passes alternately over and under successive warps producing 

the simplest possible interlacing of warp and weft elements. In weft-faced plain weave, 

the wefts are sufficiently numerous and compacted to cover the warps completely. 

kiiim Tapestry-woven rug. Discontinuous colored wefts are woven back and forth in each 

color area in weft-faced plain weave. Rug specialists refer to kilims as flat-woven rugs 

to distinguish them from pile rugs. 

13

Selected Bibliography 

Bcattie, May H. "Background to the Turkish Rug," Oriental Art, IX, 3, Autumn 1963, 150-57. 

Beattie, May H. "Coupled-column Prayer Rugs," Oriental Art, XIV, 4, Winter 1968, 243-58. 

Beattie, May H. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection of Oriental Rugs, Castagnola, Ticina (Switzerland), 

1972. 

Bogolyubov, Andrei Andreyevich. Carpets of Central Asia, ed. by J.M.A. Thompson, Ramsdell (England), 

1973. 

Cammann, Schuyler V. R. "Symbolic Meanings in Oriental Rug Patterns," Textile Museum Journal, II, 

3, 1972, 5-66. 

Denny, Walter B. "Anatolian Rugs: An Essay on Method," Textile Museum Journal, III, 4, 1973, 7-25. 

Dimand, Maurice S. Peasant and Nomad Rugs of Asia, New York, Asia House Gallery, 1961. 

Dimand, Maurice S., and Jean Mailey. Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 

1973. 

Edwards, A. Cecil. The Persian Carpet, London, 1967. 

Ellis, Charles Grant. Early Caucasian Rugs, Washington, D.C., The Textile Museum, 1966. 

Ellis, Charles Grant. "A Soumak-woven Rug in a 15th Century International Style," Textile Museum 

Journal, I, 2, 1963, 3-20. 

Ellis, Charles Grant. "The Ottoman Prayer Rugs," Textile Museum Journal, II, 4, 1969, 5-22. 

El Sadi, Subhi Mustafa. "Antique Prayer Rugs for the Orient," The Antiquarian, XIII, 3, Oct. 1929, 

32-5. 

Emery, Irene. The Primary Structures of Fabrics, Washington, D.C., The Textile Museum, 1966. 

Erdmann, Kurt. Seven Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, ed. by Hanna Erdmann, trans, by May H. 

Beattie and Hildegard Herzog, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1970. 

Erdmann, Kurt. Oriental Carpets, New York, 1962. 

Ettinghausen, Richard. "Islamic Carpets, The Joseph V. McMullan Collection," The Metropolitan 

Museum of Art Bulletin, XVIII, 10, June 1970, 401-32. 

14

Hawley, Walter A. Oriental Rugs, Antique and Modern, New York, 1927. 

Jones, H. McCoy, Ralph S. Yohe, and Jeff W. Boucher. Persian Tribal Rugs, Washington, D.C., The 

Washington Hajji Baba, 1971. 

Kendrick, A.F., and C.E.C. Tattersall. Hand-woven Carpets Oriental and European, New York, 1922. 

Kiihnel, Ernst, and Wilhelm von Bode. Antique Rugs from the Near East, trans, by Charles Grant 

Ellis, London, 1970. 

Landreau, Anthony N., and W. R. Pickering. From the Bosphorus to Samarkand, Flat-woven Rugs, 

Washington, D.C., The Textile Museum, 1969. 

Lewis, G. Griffin. The Practical Book of Oriental Rugs, Philadelphia and New York, 1945. 

Mackie, Louise. The Splendor of Turkish Weaving, Washington, D. C., The Textile Museum, 1974. 

McMullan, Joseph V. Islamic Carpets, New York (Near Eastern Art Research Center, Inc.), 1965. 

Moshkova, W. G. Carpets of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries, Tashkent, 1970. 

Mumford, John Kimberly. Oriental Rugs, New York, 1915. 

Pope, Arthur Upham. Masterpieces of Persian Art, New York, 1945. 

Sarre, Friedrich. Ancient Oriental Carpets, Leipzig, 1908. 

Sarre, Friedrich, and Hermann Trenkwald. Old Oriental Carpets, Vienna and Leipzig, 1926. 

Schurmann, Ulrich. Central-Asian Rugs, trans, by Alan Grainge, Frankfurt am Main, 1969. 

Schurmann, Ulrich. Caucasian Rugs, trans, by Alan Grainge, Braunschweig, 1965. 

The Textile Museum. Turkish Rugs from Private Collections, Washington, D.C., 1973. 

Tiffany Studios. Antique Chinese Rugs, Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan, 1970. 

Tschebull, Raoul. Kazak Carpets of the Caucasus, New York (The Near Eastern Art Research Center, 

Inc.), 1971. 

Yohe, Ralph S., and H. McCoy Jones, eds. Turkish Rugs, Washington, D.C., 1968. 

15

Catalogue 

Catalogue numbers correspond to figure numbers. Each rug is illustrated. Rugs are arranged according 

to weaving areas in the following order: Persia, Turkey, the Caucasus, Transcaspia, India, and 

China and Mongolia. 

16

PERSIA 

Factory, village and nomadic looms of past centuries, as well as those of today, have brought Persia 

recognition as the weaving center of the world and as the home of fine carpet design. Records mention 

carpet-weaving from the time of the late Sassanian Empire (224-641) and during the Caliphate, Seljuk 

and Mongol Periods (641-1449). With the establishment of the Sefavi dynasty (1449-1736) not only 

were court factories instituted but looms were set up in many cities such as Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan and 

Herat which became centers of rug manufacture of a very high quality. At this period greater refinement 

of execution appeared especially during the reigns of Shah Tahmasp and Shah Abbas. These princes 

were able to call upon the most gifted illuminators of the day to contribute designs and upon master 

weavers to execute them. They were further aided by the full development of the dyers' art. Under 

these conditions carpet manufacture was raised to a fine art. 

Design in Persian carpets was influenced both by nature and by architecture. Prayer carpets reflected 

the prayer niche of a Mosque; garden carpets containing flowers, birds and waterways with fish, 

were influenced by the formal gardens of the palaces; and the great compartment carpets reflected the 

design of the formal palace courts. 

With the eighteenth century came a decline in court rugs. The skill, range of ideas and material 

resources already built up sustained the craft at a highly respectable level through nearly a century of 

political, social and economic decline. The shock of the Afghan invasion (1722) was devastating to 

practically every phase of Persian culture. By the time recovery was possible the court schools and factories 

had disappeared. The period of the great rugs was over. 

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries smaller shops in cities and villages became established 

throughout Persia. Demand for oriental rugs increased as affluent Europeans came to recognize 

their esthetic value and to desire them for their homes and mansions. This demand not only brought 

about a resurgence of the Persian carpet industry, but it also brought nomadic rugs into the market. 

The nomads of southern Persia had a long tradition of weaving but heretofore had made rugs for their 

own use only. While many of the "new breed" of rugs were woven in haste, using poor materials and 

dyes, some of the new rug centers took pride in developing rugs of high quality, borrowing designs and 

patterns from their forebears. 

The nineteenth century provided a broad array of weaving patterns, including those from Arak 

(Sultanbad) in the Feraghan district. Although these rugs are from the same region and period, they 

display a wide variety of field drawings. The center shown in fig. 3 has an interesting device made up 

of a connecting lattice or "diaper" pattern containing minute flower forms. The field of fig. 5 shows an 

unusual arrangement of vases, flowers and connecting stems divided into three vertical panels. Figs. 6 

and 7 illustrate the so-called center medallion variety, each medallion serving as a complement to its 

field. The rug in fig. 8 contains the popular Herati or "fish" pattern using a formal flower arrangement 

as an axis. Borders in figs. 2, 5, 6, and 8 display the so-called "turtle" pattern set upon a light green 

background. 

17

Silk carpets have always been held in high esteem in Persian society and are primarily used as wall 

hangings. Three silk carpets of different designs are represented by a Tabriz medallion rug (fig. 1), by 

a combination of trees, flowers, vases and birds (fig. 17), and by a Heriz carpet with large floral devices 

and Persian writing in cartouches (fig. 20). Overall field patterns from the Senna rugs of Western Iran 

are demonstrated in both the pile (figs. 12, 13), and flat weave (fig. 14) technique. Undulating border 

vines interspersed with the floral arrangements (fig. 11) have always been significant in Persian rugs. 

The small village looms of Persia also have an important place because, not working from formal cartoons, 

they often produce rugs with original patterns (figs. 15, 16, 18). 

Persia must be credited with the highest achievement in oriental rugs because throughout the 

centuries it continued to develop and to manufacture fine carpets, establishing a reputation which persists 

to the present day. 

1. Medallion Silk Rug 

Persian, Tabriz, ca. 1875 

5'8" x 4'4" (1.73 x 1.32m) 

Charles F. Olney Bequest 1904.1 

This silk carpet shows a formal overlay of medallions 

in the central field containing various floral 

devices arranged with connecting vines: the primary 

border is a repeat with tulips of alternating 

color interspersed with buds in a conventional 

arrangement: inner and outer borders contain 

serrated leaves between carnations. 

Warp: silk, white, S-2-Z. 

Weft: cotton, tan, S-2-Z. 

Pile: silk, Turkish knot (414 per sq. in.). 

2. Herati-design Rug 

Persian, Feraghan, ca. I860 

6'4"x 4' (1.93 x 1.22m) 

Charles Martin Hall Bequest 1915.1 

The style of this rug is derived from a formal 

cartoon with the center field portraying the socalled 

Herati or "fish" pattern (in reality this 

pattern is a grouping of flowers and leaves with 

18 

a white carnation serving as an axis in its formal 

design), interspersed by a trellis of connecting 

vines. The main border is composed of stylized 

palmette floral devices, sometimes referred to as 

a "turtle" design in Feraghan rugs. 

Warp: cotton, white, S-3-Z. 

Weft: cotton, white, S-5-Z. 

Pile: wool, Persian knot (169 per sq. in.). 

LITERATURE: E. H. Roberts, "Colour and Design in Islamic 

Carpets," Apollo, CIII, 168, February 1976, 124, fig. 2. 

3. Lattice Pattern Rug 

Persian, Feraghan, ca. 1875 

6'5"x 4'1" (1.96 x 1.24m) 


The most interesting aspect of this carpet is the 

lattice pattern of the main field. Set on a white 

background, the floral devices are reminiscent of 

early Chinese motifs. The main border, composed 

of palmette flowers on a deep blue background, 

serves to accent the main field. 



Pile: wool, Persian knot (285 per sq. in.).



4. Herati-design Rug 


6'4" x 4'3" (1.93 x 1.30m) 


Apple green and brown dominate the background 

of the center field of this carpet which is 

composed of the so-called Herati or "fish" design 

found in figs. 2 and 8. The main border, 

composed of rosettes, is flanked by four smaller 

borders containing floral buds on a meandering 

vine. 



Pile: wool, Persian knot (117 persq. in.). 

5. Vase Rug 


6'll"x 4'1" (2.11 x 1.25m) 


This carpet of unusual design serves as an example 

of the variety for which the Feraghan weaving 

district is distinguished. The main field, composed 

of three vertical panels, depicts a formal 

floral arrangement with vases and stylized carnations 

set on a blue background. The green background 

of the main border serves to highlight 

the floral-palmette and carnations interconnected 

by a wavy vine. 


Weft: cotton, blue, S-2-Z. 



Carpets," Apollo. CIII, 168, February 1976, 125, pi. VI 

(color). 

6. Central Medallion Rug 


6'6" x 3'11" (1.98 x 1.19m) 


The white center in the main field of this carpet 

distinctly separates a central medallion containing 

stylized flowers from the Herati floral pattern 

set on a blue background, occupying the balance 

of the main field. Inner and outer borders contain 

floral devices distinctive to Feraghans. 




7. Floral Medallion and Vase Rug 


6'5"x 4' (1.96 x 1.22m) 


The floral bouquets contained in vases of alternating 

color set on a white background emphasizes 

the beauty of the central medallion, containing 

minute flowers and petals against a field 

of dark blue. The beautiful vase design of the 

main field, which gives this rug a place of artistic 

supremacy, becomes the theme of the main 

border. 


Weft: cotton, white, S-l-ply. 


19

8. Herati-design Rug 10. Floral Pattern Rug 


6'3"x 4' (1.91 x 1.22m) 


The strength of the design tradition in rugs from 

the Feraghan district is attested to by this example. 

The central field of deep navy blue contains 

the Herati pattern, with floral buds set on a 

white background in each corner. The Feraghan 

green of the main border highlights the so-called 

"turtle" pattern which contains a set of formal 

palmette flowers, carnations, floral buds and 

leaves, all connected by stylized vines. 




9- "Boteh"- design Rug 

Persian, Saraband, ca. 1880 

10'7"x 5'2" (3.23 x 1.57m) 


South of Feraghan is a weaving area where Saraband 

rugs are made. The principle field of this 

rug shows a pear design called a "Boteh" set in 

an opposite direction in alternating rows on a 

dark blue background. The simplicity of the 

field design emphasizes the multiple border 

stripes, the main border consisting of an undulating 

vine sprouting leaves, buds, and pear-shaped 

flowers set on a white background. 



Pile: wool, Turkish knot (121 per sq. in.). 

20 

Persian, Saraband, ca. 1875 

10'3" x 4' 10" (3.12 x 1.47m) 


Saraband rugs generally have red floral devices 

set on a dark blue field or a grouping of blue 

floral devices set on a red field, as in this example 

which depicts even rows of floral sprays. The 

center field is framed by a main border design 

depicting a stylized, but wavy, vine set on a 

white background which highlights delicate 

flowers, buds, and leaves. The remaining borders 

show budded wavy vines or a dark blue guard 

stripe on a light blue background. 



Pile: wool, Persian knot (56 persq. in ). 

11. Shrub and Floral Design Rug 

Persian. Saraband, ca. 1890 

6' 1" x 3'8" (1.85 x 1.21m) 


The main white border of this rug provides dramatic 

contrast to the central field which is covered 

by repeating shrub figurations set on a rich 

red ground. The geometric elements of the floral 

design of the main border are interesting evidence 

in Saraband rugs of influence other than 

Persian. 


Weft: cotton, blue, Z-l-plv. 

Pile: wool. Turkish knot (90 per sq. in ).

12. "Boteh "- design Rug 14. Herati-design Kilim 

Persian, Senna, ca. 1875 

6'5"x 4'5" (1.96 x 1.35m) 


The Senna rugs of Western Iran are considered 

to be among the finest woven in Persia. The main 

field of repeating pear designs, with other floral 

elements within the pear, is separated by an 

abundant array of red carnations connected by 

vines that rise vertically through the field. The 

outer border possesses an individuality of its own 

with an array of white daisies, yellow Botehs, 

and blue carnations set on a red background. 

The combination of this particular main field 

and border makes this rug very pleasing to the 

eye. 


Weft: cotton, white, S-2-Z.' 


13• Saddle Cover 


3'2" x 3'3" (0.97 x 0.99m) 

Private Collection; Promised Gift to the Museum 

Persian saddle rugs seem to have been a frequent 

product of the weavers from the Senna area and 

represent some of the finest weaving techniques. 

The parts that would normally fit over the horn 

and saddle have been filled in but are selfevident 

on the field of blue. Other designs in 

the main field are similar to the Herati design 

found in Feraghan rugs. Main and outer borders 

are repeats of flowers joined by connecting vines. 


Weft: cotton, white, Z-1 -ply. 

Pile: wool. Persian knot (304 per sq. in.). 


6'8" x 4'1" (2.03 x 1.24m) 


This kilim (flat weave) represents a technique 

popular in the Senna weaving area. It is of slit 

tapestry construction where the weft material 

creates the design. Wherever there is a change in 

color, the weaving is reversed, thus causing minor 

"slits" in the rug. The main field is comprised 

of a "Herati" pattern found in Feraghan 

rugs. Senna Kilims, although very thin, are surprisingly 

durable owing to the excellent quality 

of wool and sound construction. The borders 

contain formal floral devices which make a pleasant 

contrast with the delicate patterns of the 

main field. 

Warp: cotton, white. S-4-Z. 

Weft: wool, field colors, S-2-Z. 

Pile: flat weave. 

15. Multiple Medallion Rug 

Persian, Hamadan, ca. 1880 

13'6" x 3'6" (4.11 x 1.07m) 


The main field of this rug shows formal floral 

devices set in hexagonal and diamond shapes 

against the natural brown of the wool. The border 

adjacent to the main field shows stylized 

flowers interspersed with serrated leaves and 

framed by an outer border composed of a repeating 

guard stripe set on a light blue and natural 

brown background. 

Warp: wool, natural brown, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, natural brown, S-2-Z. 


21


Persian, Hamadan, ca. 1875 

7'3"x 3'9" (2.21 x 1.14m) 


Hamadan rugs of geometric design can possess 

significant charm, as evidenced by this splendid 

example. The field and border designs are placed 

against the brown of the wool and contrast sharply 

with each other in that the formal, almost architectural 

design of the main field is framed by 

a less formal series of daisies, carnations, and 

flower buds connected by a meandering vine in 

the main border. 

Warp: cotton, light brown, S-3-Z. 

Weft: cotton, light brown, S-3-Z. 


17. Silk Prayer Rug 

Persian, ca. 1875 

6'9"x 4'3" (2.06 x 1.30m) 


Difficult as it may be to ascertain the provenance 

of this Persian silk prayer carpet, the main field 

embodies a scene from a formal garden depicting 

a floral tree in full bloom displaying palmettes 

flanked by two luster-blue urns containing flowers. 

The spandrel area, above the two birds perched 

on a tree near the top corners of the main 

field, reveals lotus leaves which are influenced by 

Chinese design. Repeating pairs of large palmettes 

fill the main border. 

Warp: silk, natural, Z-3-S. 

Weft: silk, natural, S-2-Z. 

Pile: silk, Persian knot (323 per sq. in.). 

22 

18. Prayer Rug 

Persian, Baluchi, ca. 1890 

4'5" x 2'7" (1.35 x 0.79m) 


Prayer rugs of this type are most common among 

the Baluchi tribes that inhabit an area of Eastern 

Persia, south of Meshed, which continues into 

Western Afghanistan. The pole device, referred 

to as a "tree of life" motif, extends into the 

prayer niche which is defined by a cross and key 

design, set on white, which serves as the main 

border. Although the color range is limited, the 

wool is like velvet, which adds suppleness to this 

example. 

Warp: wool, natural, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, natural brown, S-l-ply. 


19. Gun Case 

Persian, Baluchi, ca. 1890 

3'4" x 6" (1.02 x 0.15m) 


This gun case demonstrates both pile and flatweave 

technique. The knots of the main portion 

of this example are woven in a diamond design. 

Both ends employ a flat-weave technique, as is 

found on the ends of most Baluchi carpets. The 

roping at the top was used to place the case over 

the horn of a saddle or as a means of hanging it 

in the tent. 

Warp: wool, beige, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, dark brown, S-2-Z. 


20. Silk Rug with Inscription 

Persian, Heriz, ca. 1875 

6'7"x 4'1" (2.01 x 1.24m) 

Gift of Frederick Norton Finney 1915.51 

The main field of this silk carpet is styled after 

large floral devices found in seventeenth-century 

carpets. A large cartouche in the center of the 

rug, as well as the smaller cartouches in the 

main border, contains a Persian inscription from 

a poet named Sa'di. It was translated by J. Rasooli, 

Oberlin '32, for the Museum files, and put 

in verse by Professor Charles H. A. Wager as follows: 

He who beholds your face will never look at another. 

In-satiate of love will he be; he will ne'er have his fill 

of indulgence. 

Who gave you command, I know not, to shed the blood 

of a creature. 

Who gave you leave to perform a deed to all others 

forbidden? 

Every man walks abroad and joys in his eyes' beholding. 

But who beholds you with his eyes will have no mind to 

look elsewhere. 

As you pass on your way through a throng of unbelievers 

and Moslems, 

They gaze as if at an idol or the holy house of the 

Ka'aba. 

Never may piercing of heart befall you, nor anguish, 

nor sorrow. 

For you are the comfort of sorrow, the balm, and the 

heart's consolation. 

Dearly beloved are you, the honored friend of my 

bosom. 

When you command, I obey, for you are the judge of 

my being. 

Warp: silk, natural, S-2-Z. 

Weft: silk, natural, S-2-Z. 

Pile: silk, Turkish knot (340 per sq. in.). 

LITERATURE: H. B. King, in Oberlin Alumni Magazine, 

March, 1933, 180, ill. 

23

1. Persian, Tabriz, Medallion Silk Rug

2. Persian, Feraghan, Herati-design Rug

3. Persian, Feraghan, lattice Pattern Rug

2. Persian, Feraghan, Herati-design Rug

pjpfe 

• 

* W M * |: 

5. Persian. Feraghan, I-W

6. Persian, Feraghan, Central Medallion Rug

7. Persian, Feraghan, Floral Medallion and Vase Rug

, * - . - - 

Mjfe^Vv'.JL/fhif '- *

9 

* 

m 

m 

p 

a 

li tiS] 

•frit I 

3 f - B ift'i 

Will 

mm 

«»«**«««« v.", 

SM 

• w ^ m r ^ m m v t w ^ m f r & i m 

H V? 

I 

MfpMSBI 

p ^ k w k m m e m v ^ y ^ k m 

'Vkk^kkH-kkk^Mfkkk^kkkkkmrk) 

a! ;< 

s 

h* 

•k)t*YiekkkWk^kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkpi 

'fti^to^rîflfmwifrt'W 

tihW^îM^jM'iîWî MM' 

•vmrkWlrkkkWkkkkWkk'kkWt^^ 

9. Persian, Saraband, "Boteh"- design Rug 

llf 1 

€ Ki 

m\ 

If a J 

Hi 

j! 

• . ••. • -.. • 

Ihiftl 1 

Ji.-ir 

A' ' g £11 

Ifll] 

EEs 

I®

10. Persian, Saraband, Floral Pattern Rug

11. Persian, Saraband, Shrub and Floral Design Rug

12. Persian, Senna, "Boteh"- design Rug

13. Persian, Senna, Saddle Cover

fi 

wsSmMsSMM,

15. Persian, Hamadan, Multiple Medallion Rug

16. Persian, Hamadan, Central Medallion Rug

17. Persian, Silk Prayer Rug

18. Persian, Baluchi, Prayer Rug

Persian, Baluchi, Gun Case

20. Persian, Heriz, Silk Rug with Inscription

TURKEY 

Turkish carpets have been esteemed since the thirteenth century. Historians, writers, travelers and 

artists alike have recorded the reputation of these fine carpets in chronicles and paintings. 

Knotted carpets or fragments from Turkey are among the oldest known examples of Islamic rugs. 

The existence of thirteenth-century carpets was documented by Marco Polo in 1271 when he described 

them as the "finest in the world." Known Turkish carpets of this early period predate knotted carpets 

of Persia, India and the Caucasus, which strongly suggests that the beginning of the knotted carpet, on 

a commercial scale, occurred in Turkey. Fifteenth-century carpets can be dated because of the important 

role they played in paintings. The painters Lotto and Holbein used them so frequently, each depicting 

a particular style and design, that today rugs of this type are referred to as a "Lotto" carpet or a "Holbein" 

carpet. The exportation of these early carpets clearly established their popularity in western culture. 

As in those from the Caucasus, Turkish rugs display bold, geometric patterns and vibrant, wellbalanced 

color schemes, and, with few exceptions, employ heavy warping, coarse knots and multiple 

wefting. Great variety in these rugs has persisted into the twentieth century. The names of Turkish village 

rugs are familiar: Bergamo, Mudjar, Konia, Melez, Yoruk, Kulah, Ladik and Ghiordes. Each has 

its own conventional style and each style is sought after by connoisseurs. Turkish carpets from the lateeighteenth 

and nineteenth centuries are important, reflecting, as they do, earlier traditions of design. 

Among these Turkish carpets are those showing strong Caucasian influence in both pile (fig. 27), 

and flat weave (fig. 21). The rugs in figs. 40 and 41 show simplified designs of the nomadic rugs of the 

Yoruks. Many pleasing examples of the Turkish prayer rug are catalogued here. A Melez rug (fig. 38) 

shows the top of the Mihrab or prayer niche in the central field indented. A most delicate weaving 

technique is represented by the Ghiordes prayer rug (fig. 29). Here a plain white niche contains columns 

with tiny red carnations surrounding the inner field. Ghiordes rugs are supreme among Turkish 

weavings and are usually of the prayer type. The demand for Ghiordes prayer rugs has been so great 

that attempts to copy the style and weavings of these masterpieces have occurred in neighboring countries. 

The nineteenth -century Ladik prayer rug, pictured in fig. 26, harks back to traditions, weaving 

skills and colors used by earlier seventeenth- and eighteenth-century rug makers. Other Ladik prayer 

rugs of this collection (figs. 23, 24, 25) show inner field designs and border arrangements of historical 

significance and all have elongated, inverted tulips contained in the lower panels, a common feature in 

Ladik rugs. The drawing in fig. 34 is indeed rare for a Kulah prayer rug, and together with that of fig. 

32 displays a delicacy of pattern not found in the rugs in figs. 33 and 35, where the design is bolder. 

44

21. Multiple Central Medallion Kilim 

Turkish, ca. 1875 

7' 1" x 4'9" (2.16 x 1.45m) 


The forceful design of the main field of this 

Turkish village kilim is composed of four stellate 

central medallions, flanked by large palmettes 

on a field of detached flowers against a red background. 

The "S" designs in the main border are 

flanked by rosette flowers framed by a key device. 

Minor borders contain a stiff floral and vine 

pattern set on white. 



Pile: sumak brocading. 

22. Village Mat 


2' 10" x 2' (0.86 x 0.61m) 


This is a splendid example of the small village 

mats that are made in abundance throughout 

Turkey. The upper and lower ends display multicolored 

chevrons which highlight the main field, 

composed of alternating hexagons containing 

swastikas which are separated by highly stylized 

geometrical floral forms. 

Warp: wool, white, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, natural brown, S-1 -ply. 


23. Prayer Rug with Plain Field 

Turkish, Ladik, ca. I860 

6'l"x 3'11" (1.85 x 1.19m) 


This prayer rug represents the noblest design traditions. 

A series of inverted tulips is depicted in 

the lower part of the central field; the spandrel 

area displays assembled floral buds and serrated 

leaves on a bold scale. The main border contains 

eight pointed stellate forms framed by a continuous 

stylized vine. 


Weft: wool, orange, S-l-ply. 





Turkish, Ladik, ca. 1829 

7'7" x 4'5" (2.31 x 1.35m) 


Time has added charm to the soft harmonious 

color tones of this rug, which has a red inner 

field with floral devices in the periphery and a 

latched prayer niche extending into the spandrel 

area which contains serrated leaves and detached 

geometric flowers on a field of pastel green. The 

indented rosettes and stylized tulips of the main 

border form a strong color and value contrast 

with the ground of blue or gold. Other borders 

have undulating vines with star-shaped flowers 

interspersed. The lower end of the main field 

holds inverted tulips, a trademark of Ladik carpets. 

Ladik prayer rugs are usually undated, but 

here on the red center field is the date 1240 in 

the year of Mohammed, which represents 1829 

of our calendar year. It appears that this rug was 

woven around that period of time. 

Warp: wool, natural beige, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, light brown, S-l-ply. 


45

25. Multiple-arch Prayer Rug 


6'l"x 3'9" (1.85 x 1.14m) 


The change in color in the blue and blue-green 

field shows the weaver's versatility in making this 

prayer rug. Three arched forms beneath a red 

spandrel area containing serrated leaves and carnations 

in a formal arrangement complement 

the lower main panel, composed of inverted tulips. 

The main border, containing deeply indented 

rosettes and brackets with carnations and tulips 

attached, is flanked by minor borders composed 

of small buds on a wavy vine. 


Weft: wool, brown, S-l-ply. 


26. Multiple-arch Prayer Rug 


6'3" x 3'8" (1.91 x 1.12m) 


The red central panel of this prayer rug contains 

three arches above a field of red and projects into 

a blue spandrel area containing highly stylized 

leaves and flowers. Three detached flowers in the 

lower panel rest above the arrangement of inverted 

tulips. The main border contains indented 

rosettes, carnations, and tulips. This rug along 

with the other Ladiks of the Allen Art Museum 

traces its ancestry back to early seventeenth- and 

eighteenth-century "Transylvanian" and "Column 

Ladiks," which used the same color arrangement 

and weaving techniques. 


Weft: wool, orange, S-l-ply. 


46 

27. Floral Rug of Geometric Design 

Turkish, Bergamo, ca. 1875 

5'6" x 4'8" (1.68 x 1.42m) 


The influence of Caucasian design is evident in 

this rug from the Bergamo weaving area. The 

formal arrangement of the three medallions and 

the large lanceolate leaves in company with detached 

floral devices is reminiscent of late seventeenth- 

and early eighteenth-century south Caucasian 

rugs. 

Warp: wool, dyed red, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, dyed red, S-l-ply. 



Turkish, Bergamo, dated 1859 

5'l"x 3'11" (1.55 x 1.19m) 


Dates on rugs are not usually reliable. That is not 

true of this example, dated in the lower left 

quadrant of the main field; it reads 1287 in the 

year of Mohammed, the equivalent of 1859 A.D. 

The stellate central medallion contains a pendant 

showing flowers and blossoms set on a field of 

green. The quartered panels of the main red 

field contain ewers and geometric flower designs. 

Eight pointed stellate flowers are flanked by 

highly stylized carnations and repeated against 

green in the main border. The design of the 

main field represents what is known as a "Holbein 

variant," the ancestry of which harks back 

to late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century 

Turkish rugs. 


Weft: wool, natural, S-l-ply. 

Pile: wool, Turkish knot (56 per sq. in.).

29. Columned Prayer Rug 31• Prayer Rug 

Turkish, Ghiordes, ca. 1775 

6'2" x 4'4" (1.88 x 1.32m) 


Of all Turkish rugs, the Ghiordes prayer rugs 

represent the finest weaving skills, of which this 

is an example. The cream-colored inner field 

containing columns supporting a prayer niche is 

surrounded by tiny red carnations which continue 

their delicate bud-like forms in a floral 

profusion set on a blue background in the upper 

spandrel area. Blue floral palmettes and flowers 

of pomegranate-red completely fill the main 

border which is framed by lesser borders of wavy 

vines. 


Weft: wool, natural and red, S-l-ply. 


LITERATURE: H. H. Roberts, "Colour and Design in Islamic 


30. Prayer Rug with Floral Medallion 


6'll"x 4'10" (2.11 x 1.47m) 


Three rows of small carnations framed by two 

borders of larger multi-colored carnations set the 

theme of this prayer rug of geometric design. 

Small red carnations edge a central field of dark 

blue on which stylized floral sprays are imposed. 

Flowers are frequently represented by Ghiordes 

weavers, as in this example. 


Weft: wool, dyed red, Z-l-ply. 

Pile: wool and cotton, Turkish knot (112 per sq. in.). 


6'5" x 4'3" (1.96 x 1.30m) 


Occasionally a Ghiordes prayer rug departs from 

the traditional design but still maintains a family 

resemblance (compare figs. 29 and 30). The 

portrayal of flowers and leaves on the main border 

appears artistically crude when compared 

with that of the stylized floral devices in the lesser 

borders. A plain field of green dominates the 

center, and above the prayer niche are red carnations 

connected by heavy floral stems set on light 

blue. The various uses of color in this rug suggest 

its origin could be traced to the Panderma weaving 

area. 

Warp: cotton/wool, white, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, white, S-2-Z. 

Pile: cotton and wool, Turkish knot (160 per sq. in.). 


Turkish, Kulah, ca. 1800 

6'2"x 4'3" (1.88 x 1.30m) 


Various colors and stylized carnations adorn the 

multiple borders and spandrel area in this prayer 

rug. The range of colors is unusual as are the detached 

floral buds covering the inner field of 

blue, which features make this rug superior 

among its kind. 


Weft: wool, dyed yellow, S-2-Z. 


47

33• Columned Prayer Rug 35. Prayer Rug with Geometric Pattern 


6'3" x 4'2" (1.91 x 1.27m) 


In the main field of this prayer rug floral columns 

flank an inverted vase from which flowers 

are extended, the whole representing a hanging 

lamp. The spandrel area contains an array of 

Chinese floral motifs and "Kulah curls," which 

also dominate the inner and outer borders. Center 

striped borders of brown and white contain 

repeating floral buds. 

Warp: wool, natural light brown, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, dyed orange, S-2-Z. 


34. Prayer Rug with Hanging Lamp 


6'4" x 4'3" (1.93 x 1.30m) 


Early Chinese floral patterns dominate the main 

border as well as inner and outer borders and the 

spandrel area of this splendid example of a Kulah 

prayer rug. From the niche extends a hanging 

lamp composed of an inverted vase containing 

flowers set on a field of dark blue. 

Warp: wool, dyed yellow, S-2-Z. 




Carpets," Apollo. CIII, 168, February 1976. 127, fig. 9. 

48 


5' 10"x 4' (1.78 x 1.22m) 


The main border of this prayer rug echoes the 

bold geometric floral devices commonly associated 

with rugs of the Caucasus. They appear in 

sharp contrast to the favorite floral patterns of 

Kulah origin, which dominate the lesser borders, 

main field, and areas above the prayer niche. 



Pile: wool, Turkish knot (80 per sq. in ). 

36. Prayer Rug with Multiple Borders 


7' 11" x 5' (2.41 x 1.52m) 


This prayer rug displays a variety of weaving designs 

unlike its traditional counterparts. With 

the exception of the narrow brown and white 

borders containing flower buds, the balance of 

the rug—borders, main field, and area above 

the prayer niche — abounds in floral designs 

found in Ladik and Ghiordes rugs. 


Weft: wool, natural beige, S-2-Z. 


37. Columned Floral Prayer Rug 


6'11"x 4'5" (2.11 x 1.35m) 

Charles Martin Hall Bequest 1915.32

Prayer rugs are the most popular among the 

weavers of this region, and occasionally we find 

a delightful specimen where the weaver practices 

his skill by trying to incorporate all of the Kulah 

designs into one rug, as one finds in this example. 

This perhaps explains why all of the main 

and minor floral border designs appear in close 

formation, which, in this instance, sets off the 

central prayer field of blue containing a columned 

floral form. 


Weft: wool, natural beige. Z-1 -ply. 

Pile: wool. Turkish knot (80 per sq. in.). 

38. Prayer Rug with Diamond Design 

Turkish, Melez, ca. 1880 

5'9" x 3' 10" (1.75 x 1.17m) 


Tradition of style and design seems more prominent 

among Melez prayer carpets than among 

other Turkish carpets of the nineteenth century. 

Fidelity to standard motifs is epitomized by this 

superb example of a Melez prayer rug, which 

immediately focuses the viewer's attention on 

the startling red prayer field edged with flower 

buds and upon the three diamond motifs at the 

center, topped by a multi-colored floral spray. 

Above the stepped prayer niche is a pleasing array 

of connected floral devices, set on a field of 

white. The charm of this center field serves to 

draw attention to the other artistic effects in the 

border arrangements composed of stylized palmettes, 

tulips, carnations and rosettes. 

Warp: wool, natural light tan, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, dyed red, S-2-Z. 


LITERATURE E. H. Roberts, "Colour and Design in Islamic 

Carpets." Apollo. CHI, 168, February 1976, 126, fig. 6. 

39. Saddle-bag Face 


3' 11" x no" (1.19 X 0.56m) 

Gift of Judge Madison W. Beacom 1924.3 

This nomadic saddle-bag face was originally 

joined together on the sides to form a pouch 

which was used to transport personal belongings 

from place to place. This bag face demonstrates 

the weaver's skill in combining a knotted pile 

for the outer border with a flat-weave kilim technique 

in the main field. 

Warp: wool, natural (borders only), S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, natural (borders only), S-2-Z. 

Pile: wool. Turkish knot (88 per sq. in.)/flat weave. 

40. Compartment Rug 

Turkish, Yoruk. ca. 1900 

6'7" x 4'4" (2.01 x 1.32m) 


The term "Yoruk" means nomad and describes 

the origin of this rug. The fondness of Yoruks 

for geometric designs, squares and triangles with 

"latch hook" devices and heavy geometric floral 

patterns resembling "rams' horns" is evident in 

this example. They are known for manufacturing 

carpets with a long shaggy pile and great durability. 

This gives their rugs a ruggedness not 

found in carpets of other Turkish looms. 

Warp: wool, goat hair, natural. S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, dark brown. Z-l-ply. 


41. Tile Pattern Rug 

Turkish, Yoruk, ca. 1875 

6'4" x 3' 10" (1.93 x 1.17m) 

49


Fondness for Turkish tile designs is manifest in 

this splendid example of a Yoruk rug. A serrated 

leaf design is used in the main border with alternating 

key and "S" designs in the outer border. 

The main field design is quite common and was 

used as medallions in earlier Turkish carpets, porcelains, 

and tiles. 


Weft: wool, dyed red, 2-Z-ply. 


EXHIBITIONS: Civic Center Museum, Philadelphia, "Heritage 

of the Middle East," January-February, 1978. 

LITERATURE: Hali, I, 1, Spring, 1978, 50, fig. 7. 

42. Prayer Rug, Flat Weave 


7'8" x 4'10" (2.34 x 1.47m) 


Turkish prayer rugs and kilims were very popular 

during the nineteenth century and were made 

mostly by nomads or Turkish village weavers. 

This prayer kilim shows an array of tulips of different 

sizes in the prayer field, upper spandrel 

area, and main borders. All white areas are of 

cotton and are used prominently in the framing 

of the prayer field. 

Warp: wool, ivory, S-2-Z. 

Weft: cotton, field colors, Z-l-ply. 


50

21. Turkish, Multiple Central Medallion Kilim

22. Turkish, Village Mat

23. Turkish, Ladik, Prayer Rug with Plain Field

25. Turkish, Ladik, Multiple-arch Prayer Rug

26. Turkish, Ladik, Multiple-arch Prayer Rug

27. Turkish, Bergamo, Floral Rug of Geometric Design

28. Turkish, Bergamo, Central Medallion Rug

29. Turkish, Ghiordes, Columned Prayer Rug

30. Turkish, Ghiordes, Prayer Rug with floral Medallion 

mstm&A^ 

j- 'i '1 fi 

ISfclSi St} w 

••,•.-» -v •u.'g 

Stif ©

• 

'WR'Ti 

mm 

warn 

wzw 

imm 

32. Turkish, Kulah, Prayer Rug

33. Turkish, Kulah, Columned Prayer Rug

34. Turkish, Kulah, Prayer Rug with Hanging Lamp

35. Turkish, Kulah, Prayer Rug with Geometric Pattern

" - * k - • " ' • s0-< - " * Sly-'- • We^fc «% gs^v 

36. Turkish, Kulah, Prayer Rug with Multiple Borders

37. Turkish, Kulah, Columned Flora! Prayer Rug

38. Turkish, Melez, Prayer Rug with Diamond Design

39. Turkish, Saddle-bag b'ace

40. Turkish, Yoruk, Compartment Rug

41. Turkish, Yoruk, Tile Pattern Rug

42. Turkish, Prayer Rug. Flat Weave

THE CAUCASUS 

Caucasia and Transcaucasia form an isthmus connecting Europe and Asia. Caucasia, bounded on 

the west by the Black Sea and on the east by the Caspian Sea, comprises an area of about 167,000 square 

miles of rugged mountains and pastoral slopes. Nowhere in the world does there seem such a diversity 

of people and languages. Armenians, Georgians and Scyths migrated into the Caucasus area as early as 

the seventh century B.C., followed by the Kurds. From the eleventh through the fourteenth centuries 

A. D., various Turkish tribes invaded and settled there. By the nineteenth century the population consisted 

largely of Armenians, Azeri Turks, Kurds and Georgians. Once a Persian territory, the Caucasus 

was acquired by Russia in 1813. 

Carpet examples or fragments of rugs made in the Caucasus before the seventeenth century are 

hard to find, but there seems little question that the early carpets were influenced by the Persian court 

carpets. It is unfortunate that the exportation of early Caucasian rugs came after the period when oriental 

carpets were a popular motif in European paintings, a circumstance which helped to preserve the 

style and design of early carpets from other weaving areas. 

In contrast to Persian rugs with their delicate floral patterns, arabesques and curvilinear designs, 

early Caucasian rugs contain bold geometric patterns, as varied as the region and people who made 

them. Made mostly by nomads in scattered districts they display a profusion of types and patterns very 

similar to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century rugs found today. Such names as Kazak, Kuba, 

Dagestan, Shirvan and Chichi stir the imagination. The quality of these rugs testifies to an extraordinary 

contribution to a nomadic art form that is held in high regard today. 

The Caucasian rugs catalogued in this exhibition show bold designs in the flat-weave (figs. 51, 52) 

as well as in the piled technique. A splendid example of a piled carpet is the rare nineteenth-century 

Kazak rug from the Georgia area (fig. 49), which differs from other types of Caucasian rugs in its rugged 

construction of long pile, large, dominant designs and well-balanced colors; greens, reds, golds, browns, 

blues and whites. Two runners, one from the Karabagh area and one from the Shirvan area, demonstrate 

different design influences. The Karabagh (fig. 43), with its strong geometric patterns, follows 

those of pure-bred Caucasian origin, and the Shirvan (fig. 44), with its more delicate floral motifs, 

those of Persian origin. 

Floral prayer carpets with dates are rather common among Caucasian rugs, as in fig. 46. Prayer 

rugs in figs. 47 and 48 have a complete floral design dominating their center field. The presence of 

animals, birds and geometricized flowers (fig. 45) reflects the styles of early Persian garden carpets. 

73

43- Runner with Pendant Design 45. Rug with Geometric Pattern 

Caucasian, Karabagh, ca. 1875 

10' 10" x 3'8" (3.30 x 1.12m) 


This runner with a predominantly blue field was 

undoubtedly woven near the Karabagh area in 

the south Caucasus region. The pendant motifs 

filling the central field seem to be pointing in 

two directions, calling attention to the animal 

forms at both ends. The major border is made 

up of serrated-edged palmettes, with an overlay 

of a non-continuous vine, set on white, and is 

contained by a repeating guard stripe in the 

lesser borders. 




44. Floral Rug with Medallions 

Caucasian, Shirvan, dated 1872 

6'll"x 3' (2.11 x 0.91m) 


Dates woven into Caucasian carpets occur with 

frequency and are usually unreliable. However, 

the date of 1290 in the Mohammed year, which 

appears in the top border at the right, converts 

into 1872 of our calendar year and appears to be 

genuine. The style of the main field is a geometric 

adaptation of early Persian floral carpets 

displaying large palmettes and abundant floral 

devices. Repeating S-forms in the major borders 

are flanked by reciprocal guard stripes set on 

blue and red. 


Weft: wool, beige, S-2-Z. 

Pile: wool,Turkish knot (116 persq. in.). 

74 

Caucasian, Shirvan, ca. 1890 

3'2" x 2'8" (0.97 x 0.81m) 


The field of this rug containing exaggerated 

"rams' horn" devices and geometricized flowers 

and birds calls attention to the persistence with 

which Caucasian weavers continue a tradition 

found in earlier Caucasian and Persian garden 

carpets. The main border, set on red, shows carnations 

separated by "latch-hook" devices and is 

framed by lesser borders with repeating guard 

stripes set on blue. 


Weft: wool, natural, S-3-Z. 



Caucasian, Dagestan, ca. 1850 

3'll"x 3'7" (1.19 x 1.09m) 


This prayer rug displays an omega-shaped prayer 

niche at the top of the main field. There are also 

two dates —1813 A.D. and 1858 A.D.—which 

could signify important events to the weaver. 

The main field, set on gold, displays seven rows 

of floral devices connected by vertical vines. Borders 

contain designs frequently used on rugs 

from the Caucasus. 

Warp: cotton, white, S-1 -ply. 

Weft: wool, dyed red, Z-l-ply. 

Pile: wool, Turkish knot (181 persq. in.).

47. Prayer Rug with Independent Niche 


5'x 3'11" (1.52 x 1.19m) 


The prayer niche lies independently on the gold 

field which contains an abundance of multicolored 

geometric floral devices. The main border, 

set on white, displays a serrated leaf and 

tulip design commonly found in Caucasian rugs. 


Weft: cotton, white, S-1 -ply. 


48. Prayer Rug with Overall Pattern 


4'4"x 3' 10" (1.32 x 1.17m) 


Within the trellis arrangement of this prayer rug 

is a variety of flowers which makes this excellent 

example a delightful bouquet. Narrow borders 

display small floral buds and serve as contrast to 

the winged-cross patterns that adorn the main 

border. 


Weft: wool, white S-l-ply. 


49. Three-medallioned Rug 

Caucasian, Kazak, ca. 1880 

5'9" x 4'3" (1.75 x 1.30m) 


Occasionally we are privileged to view Kazak 

weaving at its best. Such is the case in this unique 

example. The size of the three large center 

medallions is most unusual for a Kazak, although 

"latch-hook" medallions, squares, diamonds, 

and rosettes have been design elements 

in Caucasian rugs for centuries. The main field 

commands such attention that one does not immediately 

recognize that the main border is 

made up of simplified Kufic characters. 




EXHIBITIONS: Finch College Museum of Art, New York, 

"Kazak," Nov. 5, 1971-Jan. 8, 1972, no. 1, color plate; 

Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Neb., "A Rich Inheritance," 

Nov. 17, 1974-Jan. 12, 1975, 41, ill. 

LITERATURE: R. Tschebull, Kazak, New York, 1971, 20-21, 

pi. I (color); E. H. Roberts, "Colour and Design in Islamic 

Carpets," Apollo, CIII, 168, February 1976, 125, pi. V 

(color); Walter B. Denny, in Oriental Rugs, from series 

Smithsonian Illustrated Library of Antiques (Cooper-Hewitt 

Museum), New York, pi. XI (color), to appear in 1979. 

50. Floral Rug of Geometric Design 

Caucasian, Chichi, ca. 1875 

4'4" x 3'8" (1.32 x 1.12m) 


The dark blue field of this rug is covered with 

alternating rows of detached floral motifs set vertically. 

The main border is so characteristic of 

Chichis that attribution is perfectly safe. Clublike 

diagonals, indented rosettes and a curved 

trefoil are bounded by borders of heart-shaped 

flowers and other designs which have been used 

for centuries in Chichi rugs. 




75

51. Garden Rug with Geometric 

Pattern 

Caucasian, ca. 1890 

5' 10" x 4' 10" (1.78 x 1.47m) 

Florence Mary Fitch Bequest 1959.106 

Flat-woven Soumak rugs of this type are made 

in both the Shirvan and Dagestan disticts of the 

Caucasus. The geometric patterns of the main 

field, set on red, can be traced to earlier garden 

carpets of Persia. This example demonstrates the 

weaver's skill in brocading, and in flat-weave 

technique. The patterns are those commonly 

found in pile-type Caucasian rugs. 


Weft: wool, field colors, S-2-Z. 

Pile: Soumak weave. 

52. Dragon Rug 

Caucasian, ca. I860 

8'6" x 6'8" (2.59 x 2.03m) 

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Roberts 1975.163 

This Sile rug comes from a group of Caucasian 

pileless rugs brocaded in the Soumak manner. 

The large S-forms and reverse S-forms which 

cover the field appear to be stylized dragons and 

are commonly thought to derive from the "dragon" 

rugs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

The patterns of these early rugs consisted 

of elaborate trellises of serrated leaves enclosing 

stylized dragons frequently in combat with other 

fabulous creatures. Through the centuries the 

dragon motif has continued to hold a particular 

fascination for Caucasian weavers, although its 

stylistic evolution gives this nineteenth-century 

version only a remote resemblance to the prototype. 

This rug was woven in two pieces and joined 

down the middle. 

76 

Warp: wool, dyed red, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool/cotton, field colors, S-2-Z. 

Pile: Soumak weave 

COLLECTIONS: Louis Jacoby, Berlin; Mrs. Gertrud Jacobv, 

Oberlin; Mrs. Ursula Stechow, Oberlin; Mr. and Mrs. E. H. 

Roberts, Oberlin. 

EXHIBITIONS Joslyn Art Museum. Omaha, Neb.. "A Rich 

Inheritance," Nov. 17, 1974-Jan. 12. 1975, 48, ill. 

LITERATURE The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Micropaedia. 

15th ed., Chicago, 1974, IX. 200 (color pi.); R. Spear, in 

AMAM Bulletin. XXXIV, 1, 1976-77, 4-5, fig. 4.

illlllllP^SP 

43. Caucasian, Karabagh, Runner with Pendant Design

44. Caucasian, Shirvan, Floral Rug with tAedalliom

45. Caucasian, Shirvan. Rug with Geometric Pattern

46. Caucasian, Dagestan, Prayer Rug

47. Caucasian, Dagestan, Prayer Rug with Independent Niche

48. Caucasian, Dagestan, Prayer Rug with Overall Pattern

49. Caucasian. Kazak, Three-medallioned Rug

50. Caucasian, Chichi, Floral Rug of Geometric Design

51. Caucasian, Garden Rug with Geometric Pattern

TRANSCASPIA - TURKOMAN (USSR) 

Turkomania covers the area of Transcaspia between the South Caspian Sea on the west, the middle 

Amu Darya on the east, south from the Aral Sea to the boundaries of Persia and south-east to Afghanistan. 

From the nomadic looms of this diverse region of mountains, stepped plateaus and vast desert 

waste lands come the most exquisite examples of Turkoman weaving. Turkoman rugs have been called 

the "Rembrandts of carpets, surpassing all others in their richness of color, fineness of weave and fidelity 

to "family" motifs. 

Until stability was imposed in the late nineteenth century, the region was marked by 500 years of 

political unrest and a nomadic way of life. This retarded cultural growth and did not encourage the 

writing of chronicles which would have aided in tracing the various patterns that have become common 

features of these rugs. 

Difficult as it may be to date Turkoman rugs earlier than 1850, designs in these carpets seem to 

have preserved a tradition established as early as the Seljuk period (1037-1194). Designs and patterns 

can also be traced to rugs with like patterns found in Anatolia and the fifteenth-century Timurid miniature 

paintings of the Herat School. This does not seem surprising because it was the Turks who founded 

the Ottoman Empire. It would not be difficult to conclude that these design elements hark back to pre- 

Islamic Turkish and Persian traditions of Central Asia. 

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the Turkoman people were divided into nomadic and 

semi-nomadic federations, each with its own peculiar design characteristics. Identification of Turkoman 

rugs in terms of each federation has been difficult until recently. The study of the various weaving techniques, 

such as the way the knots are tied, the type and color range of the pile, the wefting material 

and color, the diameter of the warps, as well as the combination of field patterns, has helped in the 

recognition of the origins of these magnificent rugs. The principle tribes producing them were the 

Tekke, Salor, Chodor, Yomud, Saryq-Pendeh (Kizil-Ayak) and Ersari. 

Turkoman rugs can easily be distinguished from the others by the red used almost exclusively as a 

basic ground color. Tekke and Ersari carpets are characterized by a forceful bright red; Pendeh (Kizil- 

Ayak) by auburn red. Then there is the dark—almost oxblood —red in Salor and Saryq carpets, the 

reddish-purple used by the Yomuds and the brown-red of Chodor pieces. The Museum has important 

specimens from the Salor, Saryq-Pendeh (Kizil-Ayak), Tekke, Yomud, and Chodor weaving areas. 

The Turkoman carpet in fig. 63 is unusual. The motifs in the main field are of Saryq origin and 

those of the main border are borrowed from the Yomuds. However, the traditional, brown-red background, 

together with the tight manner in which the Persian knots are tied, provides convincing evidence 

that this carpet is of Chodor manufacture. Saryq-Pendeh prayer rugs (figs. 53, 54, 55) come from the 

southeastern Transcaspian basin and are the rarest of ali Turkoman carpets. Prayer niches are located at 

the top and are separated from the inner field by several border arrangements. These rugs are also used 

as hangings over tent openings. Bag faces of different designs and sizes (figs. 57, 58, 65) were made 

87

in abundance and were used by the nomads as a place to store family belongings, or as pillows, and 

were also used by the wandering Turkomans as a means of transporting items from place to place. The 

Tekke Turkoman carpet of formal design (fig. 56) is a good example of the precision of weaving of the 

Turkoman loom. 

53. Prayer Rug with Multiple Niches 

Turkoman, Saryq-Pendeh, ca. 1875 

5'll"x 4'10" (1.80 X 1.47m) 


Rare Turkoman rugs of this design are referred 

to as Saryq-Pendeh prayer rugs and are made by 

Saryq tribes in the southeastern Pendeh oasis of 

Transcaspia which borders on Afghanistan. There 

are three small prayer niches at the top and a 

cruciform design in the center field which is accented 

by a delicate white border of diamond 

and horseshoe forms. The inner field is composed 

of beam-like devices containing hooks 

with vertical rows of alternating S-forms, geometrical 

flowers, and shrubs. 

Warp: wool, natural white, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, natural white, S-2-Z. 




6'4" x 4'9" (1.93 x 1.45m) 


This prayer rug of Saryq origin displays five 

prayer niches at the top. Earlier specimens now 

suggest that the rigid designs found in Saryq 

Turkoman rugs derived from flower forms and 

plant ornamentations. The cruciform centers and 

prayer niches at the top are also found in the 

rugs of other Turkoman tribes, namely Tekke, 

88 

Yomud, and Ersari. Rugs of this type were also 

used to cover openings of tents, in which Turkoman 

tribe federations have dwelled for centuries. 





Carpets," Apollo. CIII, 168, February 1976, 126, fig. 5. 

55. Prayer Rug with Multiple 

Prayer Niches 


5'9" x 4'6" (1.75 x 1.37m) 


Saryq Turkoman rugs of this design are classic 

examples of prayer rugs, and are also known as 

"Hatchli," owing to the cruciform design in the 

center. Two arches appear in the center of the 

rug, one above the other, as well as multiple 

arches at the top, and all are referred to as prayer 

niches. Floral motifs and diamond-shaped patterns, 

of which the Turkoman tribes were so 

fond, dominate the main borders and lower 

panel. It is interesting to note that although red 

is the basic background of most Turkoman carpets, 

the three Saryq-Pendeh prayer rugs in the 

Museum collection (see nos. 53, 54), each possesses 

a red distinctly its own. 



Pile: wool, Turkish knot (180 per sq. in.).

56. Medallion-patterned Rug 

Turkoman, Tekke, ca. 1875 

5'8" x 3'8" (1.73 x 1.12m) 


This classic rug of Tekke nomadic origin possesses 

a field of warmest red and contains a major 

pattern, in medallion form, frequently referred 

to as a "gul," which simply means flower. These 

"guls" are lobed-octagons divided into quarters, 

at the center of which is a diamond-shaped device 

with extended arrows. Floral forms dominate 

the borders. This rug is distinguished by a serrated 

leaf pattern forming a trellis at one end of 

the rug, with an earlier Chinese and Turkish 

"Lotto" design gracing the opposite end. 


Weft: wool, dyed red, S-l-ply. 


57. Multiple-medallioned Bag Face 

Turkoman, Salor, ca. 1850 

2'5" x 4' 1" (0.74 x 1.24m) 


Nomadic tribesmen of the Salor federation possess 

the finest weaving skills in all Transcaspia, 

demonstrated by this bag face which has 322 

knots per square inch. The style and arrangement 

of the straight-line "guls" are peculiar to 

the Salor tribe; however, they do resemble "guls" 

of Saryq and Tekke origin. Clarity of the main 

"gul" motif bordered with repeating picket devices 

is emphasized by an outer stepped motif. 

The main design is accompanied by a delightful 

minor design with square-stepped floral patterns 

and hooked crosses on the inside. The floral 

shrubs in the lower panel are laid out with great 

precision as are the geometric floral devices dominating 

the borders. 




58. Utility Bag 

Turkoman, Yomud, ca. 1875 

2'8"x 3'8" (0.81 x 1.12m) 


Yomud Turkoman tribesmen wove bags in abundance. 

The Yomud federation was predominantly 

nomadic and bags of this type were put to use 

as bureau drawers in tents, as pillows, and as a 

means of transporting belongings from place to 

place. The octagon devices of the main field, 

separated by a series of star formations, are typical 

of Yomud style, as are the repeating floral 

formations connected by a vine in the main border. 


Weft: wool, dyed red-brown, S-l-ply. 


59. Utility Bag 


2'7"x 4'2" (0.79 x 1.27m) 


This bag is similar to no. 58. The major "guls" 

are deeply indented by a sharp vertical line and 

a light horiziontal one which together serve to 

divide the design into quarters. Although the 

lower apron is plain except for a diamond device 

on the lower right side, many of the Yomud bag 

faces have their own individual designs in lower 

panels. 

89


Weft: wool, natural brown, S-l-ply. 


60. Tent Band 


56' x 1'2" (17.07 x 0.36m) 


The Yomud tribe made bands to adorn the interior 

walls of their tents. This flat-weave example 

has a brocaded design worked into an already 

existing ground fabric. A series of simple graduated 

diamonds with large W's at the ends connects 

each motif with the other. The field has 

interrupted spines which help to break the exaggerated 

main design. The border design, set 

on white background, repeats and seems to form 

avenues for the main field design. 

Warp: wool, rust, brown, white, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, brown, S-2-Z. 


61. Tent or Animal Decoration 


2'3" x 3' 11" (0.69 x 1.19m) 


This juval would have been used for purposes of 

decoration as a tent hanging or on an animal 

during some special occasion. Juvals are pentagonal 

in shape and in this particular example the 

use of white highlights a stepped diamondshaped 

design of which the Yomuds are very 

fond. Bundles of wool shag on sides and bottom 

add charm to the whole piece. 

90 




62. Utility Bag Face 

Turkoman, Saryq, ca. 1875 

l'5"x 3'11" (0.43 x 1.19m) 


This bag face has a dark red somber tone which 

provides a background for the field designs, 

composed of six stepped-octagon "guls" separated 

by crossed floral devices. Borders of a geometric 

floral pattern surround the main field. 

The bottom of the bag face still shows evidence 

of hand-spun wool which usually forms a long 

fringe or "shag" that was probably twelve inches 

long. Execution of overall design is evidence of 

the skill of the Turkoman weavers. 




63. Medallion Rug with Repeating 

Design 

Turkoman, Chodor, ca. 1850 

10'x 6'2" (3.05 x 1.88m) 


Turkomans of the Chodor federation make the 

largest rugs on nomadic looms of the Transcaspia. 

This carpet displays five vertical rows of 

octagon-shaped "guls" which are quartered in 

designs of orange and white with each quarter 

displaying two two-headed dogs. A minor stepped 

"gul" with diamond devices in the center 

separates the larger octagons. The major border 

has an undulating vine and serrated leaves which

frames diamond-shaped flowers of alternating 

colors. 

Warp: wool, natural tan, S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, natural tan, S-2-ply. 


LITERATURE: E. H. Roberts. "Colour and Design in Islamic 

Carpets," Apollo. CIII, 168, February 1976, 126. fig. 4. 

64. Rug with "Mini Khani" 

Border Design 

Turkoman, Ersari, ca. I860 

7'8"x 4'8" (2.34 x 1.42m) 


The influence of Chinese Turkestan motifs is 

very apparent in this rare rug. Geometricized 

flower forms fill the center field. The inner border 

contains a series of stylized pomegranates; 

the main outer border contains large floral devices 

in alternating colors. Both the main field 

and the two borders are framed by repeating 

rosebuds set on yellow. 




65. Rug Composed of Border Designs 

Turkoman, Ersari, ca. I860 

3'3"x 5'6" (0.99 x 1.68m) 


The Ersari Turkomans made large bags for transporting 

articles from place to place. This example 

shows a design composed of multiple border 

stripes which are commonly found in Ersari, 

Yomud and Tekke rugs. The lower panel displays 

a row of tree forms common to rugs from 

Chinese Turkestan. 

Warp: wool, natural brown. S-2-Z. 

Weft: wool, natural brown. S-2-Z. 


91

53. Turkoman, Saryq-Pendeh, Prayer Rug with Multiple Niches

55. Turkoman, Saryq-Pendeh, Prayer Rug with Multiple Prayer Niches

56. Turkoman, Tekkc, Medallion-patterned Rug

» » » - * »• • 

4 v -fejêBsr -v -^h: vgr Sx' -v - - li -v • 

•: rfkrit!?-''-' ' . • . "^SL. 

~ 5? ^ 

C, JF-. ti ~ o x Jr- X c ir . -.-v 

. It a» 

fc. • ft- . " . % 

— * 

-fir S'C- 

>t . •si ' »V • "f 

: «v Vv -. -V?.. -J'" - 

A . :ft . 

it; ft is '^f *: - >1... 

... . •it 

••• 

V- 

57. Turkoman, Salor, Multiple-medallioned Bag Face 

u - 

v., _ « - ' - f t ' ti 

Fm*. • •- ..

58. Turkoman, Yomud, Utility Bag

59. Turkoman, Yomud, Utility Bag

61. Turkoman. Yomud, Tent or Animal Decoration

62. Turkoman. Saryq, Utility Bag Face

63. Turkoman, Chodor, Medallion Rug with Repeating Design

65. Turkoman, Ersari, Rug Composed of Border Designs

INDIA 

The uninitiated rarely realize that India was an important center for carpet-making. Early in the 

reign of the Emperor Akbar (1556-1605) Indian merchants were importing quantities of rugs from 

Persian Joshegan, Khuzistan, Kerman and Sabzwar. Akbar grasped the possibilities of developing local 

carpet factories and helped to initiate carpet knotting in India. He encouraged carpet weavers from 

Persia to settle in India to assist in the expanding new trade. Carpet factories sprang up in Agrah, Jaipur, 

Lahore and Faithpur. Motifs long popular among Persian craftsmen were thus brought to India, but as 

might be expected in a culture as rich as that of India, indigenous motifs began to appear alongside 

those of Persian origin. One of the most interesting carpets in the Allen Art Museum collection — as 

well as the oldest — is a late seventeenth century rug of Herat design from India (fig. 66). The exact 

provenance of this carpet is difficult to identify. However, carpets of similar Persian design are in the 

Jaipur treasury. These have a field of large palmettes and floral stems in a formal configuration on a red 

ground with a wide border of lesser palmettes, leaves and stylized vines on a dark blue-green background. 

66. Floral Rug 

Indian, ca. 1680 

15'3"x 6'5" (4.66 x 1.96m) 

Gift of Mrs. Dudley Blossom 1941.95 

This carpet of Herat design was made in India 

in the late-seventeenth century. The weavers 

worked from a formal cartoon, which allowed 

the arrangement of flowers, palmettes and cloud 

bands to be woven with precision. Complete reknotting 

of the main borders, as well as significant 

repairs to the field, serves as testimony to 

the importance of preserving age-old masterpieces. 

Its age and extreme rarity make it a notable 

part of the collection. A light yellow has 

been used to replace the original blue-green 

typical of Indian manufacture. In the restored 

parts the Turkish knot was employed instead of 

the Persian knot which formed the original pile. 

The design, however, is preserved and shows a 

formal arrangement of large palmettes, cloud 

bands, lanceolate leaves, flowers and stems covering 

the whole ground. The wide border displays 

transversely-placed palmettes connected by 

a vine containing small flowers and leaves. Until 

recently, carpets of this design were thought to 

be of Persian manufacture from the Herat area. 

The character of their color schemes and weaving 

techniques now permits their Indian origin to be 

recognized. 

Warp: cotton, natural beige, S-2-Z. 

Weft: cotton, natural beige, Z-2-S. 

Pile: wool, Persian knot (121 per sq. in ). 


Carpets," Apollo. CIII, 168, February 1976, 124, fig. 1. 

105

66. Indian, Floral Rug

CHINA - MONGOLIA 

Among oriental rugs, the Chinese or Mongol rug holds a unique place by reason of traditional 

religious symbols used in the design, in contrast to the more decorative designs of the rugs of the court 

schools of Persia. In China, rugs do not appear to have been so much a part of daily life, as they are 

and always have been in Near Eastern and Western cultures. Religious symbolism has always been woven 

into their rugs and this is especially true of rugs made for ornamentation or temple furnishings. In 

China, rugs are first and foremost a utility and efforts to produce masterpieces are rare. There appears 

to have been no record or tradition of famous individual weavers. However, there are a few cases where 

Chinese rugs display an array of elaborate weaving designs comparable to those of sixteenth-century 

Persian, Turkish and Indo-Persian rugs composed by court artists. 

It should be mentioned that there were no woolen pile carpets in China before the Mongol period 

of the fourteenth century because China was not a wool-producing country. In recent centuries, rugs 

that were made in China proper used wool imported from Mongolia or Australia. 

Traditional designs in Chinese and Mongol carpets are influenced by those found in fine Chinese 

silks and porcelains (see figs. 68-71); this contrasts with the design metamorphosis that had been going 

on in Persian, Turkish and Caucasian rugs for centuries. Chinese rugs portray delicate weaving patterns 

which command great respect for the Chinese loom. 

67. Three-medallioned Rug 

Chinese, ca. 1875 

8'3"x 3*1" (2.51 x 0.94m) 


Three oval medallions, set on a sculptured gold 

background, contain lotus blossoms and leaves. 

Stylized flowers fill the octagon trellis of the 

main field which is surrounded by two minor 

borders in blue and a major border containing 

flowers and symbolic representations such as the 

pomegranate, conch shell and neverending knot. 

Although the main field designs have faded, it 

does not distract from the beauty of this extremely 

interesting Chinese rug. 

Warp: cotton, white, 1 -ply. 

Weft: cotton, white, 1-ply. 


68. Eight-medallioned Rug 


8'4" x 5'3" (2.54 x 1.60m) 


Eight floral medallions dominating the field of 

gold are reminiscent of designs found on Chinese 

porcelains. Other floral motifs and an array 

of butterflies in flight add grace to this splendid 

rug. The main border is a repeat of lotus leaves 

107

and is contained within two lesser borders of 

blue. 

Warp: cotton, white, 1-ply. 

Weft: cotton, white, 1-ply. 


69. Chair Back Cover 


2'2" x 2'2" (0.66 x 0.66m) 


This chair back cover shows a symbolic scene of a 

five-clawed dragon guarding a jewel, located in 

the center of the rug, against its confiscation by 

two lesser dragons in the lower quadrants of the 

main field. The main border contains lotus blossoms 

and leaves, used frequently in Chinese art, 

and the lower panel depicts cloud forms and 

waves of a raging sea. 




70. Dragon Mat 


3'x 3'2" (0.91 x 0.97m) 


The design of the main field of this mat is very 

similar to the chair back of no. 69, except that 

here the main dragon in the center is surrounded 

by four dragons. The arrow design on the sides 

of an inner field represents mountains. The 

main border is comprised of cloud formations. 


Weft: cotton, white, Z-3-S. 


108 

71. Saddle Cover 

Chinese-Mongolian, ca. 1850 

4'7" x 2'2" (1.40 x 0.66m) 


Chinese-Mongol saddle covers represent the 

loveliest examples of weaving design that come 

from the Chinese loom. The presence in the 

main field of fish, knots of destiny, tablet, conch 

shell, lotus blossoms, umbrella, and sun indicates 

the persistence of Chinese weavers in using 

the symbols from their culture and religion. The 

main outer border has floral devices contained 

within roundels. 


Weft: cotton, white, Z-5-ply. 


67. Chinese, Three-medallioned Rug

68. Chinese, Eight-medallioned Rug

69. Chinese, Chair Back Cover

70. Chinese, Dragon Mat

71. Chinese-Mongolian, Saddle Cover

114 

Oberlin Friends of Art 

Privileges of Membership 

A photograph by Richard Colburn, made exclusively for the Oberlin Friends of Art 

A copy of each issue of the Bulletin 

Free admission to film series 

Invitations to Baldwin and visiting lecture series 

An annual members' acquisition party, during which members purchase by vote 

works for the museum collection 

A discount on museum catalogues and Christmas cards 

Categories of Membership 

In Memoriam 

Life 

Family (annual) 

Sustaining (annual) 

Member (annual) • 

Student (annual) - 

A sustaining or life membership gives privileges to husband and wife, and a family 

membership includes all children. 

Membership contributions are tax deductible. 

$150.00 

$150.00 

$ 30.00 

$ 15.00 

$ 10.00 

$ 5.00

STAFF OF THE MUSEUM 

Richard E. Spear, Director 

Ellen H. Johnson, Honorary Curator 

of Modern Art 

Chloe H. Young, Curator 

Stephen C. McGough, Curator of Modern Art 

MUSEUM PURCHASE COMMITTEE 

Richard Colburn, Museum Technician 

Deborah Emont, Assistant to the Curators 

Christine A. Dyer, Graduate Assistant 

Judith A. Fannin, Administrative Secretary 

Arthur Fowls, Head Custodian 

Richard E. Spear, Chairperson William E. Hood 

Paul B. Arnold Ellen H. Johnson 

Frederick B. Artz Stephen C. McGough 

Laurine M. Bongiorno Athena Tacha 

Emil C. Danenberg Forbes J. Whiteside 

Thalia Gouma-Peterson Chloe H. Young 

EDITOR OF THE BULLETIN 

Chloe H. Young 

PUBLICATIONS 

The Bulletin, the catalogue of the 

painting and sculpture collection, 

the catalogue of drawings, photographs, 

postcards, slides, and color 

reproductions are on sale at the 

Museum. 

MUSEUM HOURS 

School year: 

Closed Monday 

Tuesday 11-8 

Wednesday through Friday 11-5 

Saturday and Sunday 2-5 

Vacations, summer, and January term: 

Closed Monday and Tuesday 

Wednesday through Sunday 2 - 5 

115

Notes

BULLETIN - Digital Resource Commons - Oberlin College

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?