Oriental Rugs

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Oriental Rugs
www.kebabian.com/ types.htm
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• Oriental rugs are made by individuals, by
  families, and by employed rug factory workers.
• historically oriental rugs were made either in
  formal rug making factories in cities and large
  towns, or in rural settings, such as nomadic
  communities, or very small villages.
• often the long tedious labor was done by women
  and children.

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History of Oriental Rugs

• Although historians have not been able to
  pinpoint exactly when knotted rugs were first
  made, it seems probable that they have been
  around since human civilization began. Man first
  began using animal furs as clothing and flooring,
  but as animals became domesticated and farming
  increased, the use of sheared wool and silk
  became mediums for weaving.

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• There are theories about the weaving of rugs
  originating with the Egyptians, Chinese and even
  Mayans. What is clear, however, is that as with
  most things in nomadic life, the origins were
  based on clothing and shelter not ornamentation.

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• The nomadic people would have used wool from
  their own flocks of sheep to weave makeshift
  floor coverings, blankets and even tent
  coverings. The style of these coverings has
  changed little over thousands of years, but the
  designs have changed dramatically.

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• Oriental carpet weaving as an art form, however,
  has now been accurately traced back to the 5th
  century BC. In 1947, Russian archaeologists
  excavating in the Pazyryk Valley of Siberia, near
  the outer Mongolian border in the Altai Mountains
  in southern Siberia unearthed a carpet from a
  burial chamber belonging to a Scythian Chieftain.

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• It had been frozen in ice and was in remarkably
  good condition. Modern carbon dating has placed
  it as 2,500 years old. This carpet which measures
  about 6'7" x 6' is now in the Hermitage Museum at
  St. Petersburg, Russia.

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• Unfortunately, wool textiles oxidize and crumble
  with the passage of time. There are carpet
  fragments dating from the 5th century that have
  been found throughout the Middle East. This seems
  to indicate that that the weaving art was highly
  perfected by that time.

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• In China, carpet making dates back to the period
  of the Sung Dynasty (960 to 1279 AD). The Chinese
  produced rugs in factory workshops controlled by
  the emperors. The designs were characteristic of
  Buddhism and Taoism. Marco Polo discovered some
  of the earliest examples of carpets while
  travelling through China and Turkey in the 13th
  century

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• The Romans adorned their palaces with rugs, both
  on the floor and on the walls. They were highly
  valued and were even used as payment for taxes.
  They were clearly perceived as better than money.
  
• It is well recorded in history that Queen
  Cleopatra was presented to Caesar rolled up in a
  carpet.

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• Oriental rugs made their way to America in the
  late seventeenth century. They were used as floor
  coverings and wall coverings. The nineteenth
  century Victorian era saw a dramatic increase in
  demand for the rugs. The bold colors and designs
  complemented the dark and heavy Victorian
  furniture. An Oriental Indian rug owned by
  Cornelieus Vanderbilt sold for 950,000.

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• Perhaps the only thing that all real Oriental
  rugs have in common is that they are woven by
  hand.
• Oriental pile rugs  are constructed by first
  stringing warp threads, which will run the length
  of the finished rug, onto a loom.

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• Weavers often choose cotton for the warps,
  particularly for larger carpets because it
  stretches less than wool, cotton can be strung on
  the loom more easily and evenly.

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• Some areas traditionally use wool to produce
  their warps, however, which is generally
  satisfactory. The number of warps per inch of
  width largely determines the fineness  of the
  rug. The rug is started by passing wefts through
  the warps to produce a grid-like fabric called a
  flat weave that stabilizes the end of the rug.
  The weavers create the pile of the rug by tying
  pile knots around adjacent pairs of warp threads
  across the width of the rug.

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• The two most typical types of knots used in
  Oriental carpets are called Turkish (sometimes
  called a Ghiordes knot), and Persian (sometimes
  called a Senneh knot). These terms generally have
  nothing to do with a carpet's ethnic or
  geographic origin.

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the number of knots per square inch is a way to
measure the quality of the rug the more knots,
the finer the rug.
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Persian Knot

• In the Persian knot, the supplementary weft yarn
  passes behind one warp yarn, and the two ends
  emerge on either side of a warp yarn. The Persian
  knot is sometimes called a Senneh knot it has an
  asymmetrical structure.

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Turkish Knot

• In the Turkish knot, the supplementary weft yarn
  passes over the two warp yarns, and emerges to
  form the pile coming between them. The Turkish
  knot is also sometimes called a Ghiordes knot it
  has a symmetrical structure.

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• Local custom determines which type of knot
  weavers use, as there is no great advantage of
  one over the other. For example, many areas in
  Iran actually use the symmetric (Turkish) knot.
  When trimmed, the ends of the knots become the
  pile of the rug. The design of the rug is
  produced by using different yarn colors to tie
  pile knots.

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• After the weavers tie a row of knots across the
  width of the rug, they pass 1 to 3 weft threads
  of cotton or wool between the warps, then pound
  them down to secure the knots in place. Above
  these knots, they tie another row of knots then
  more wefts, more knots, and so on until the rug
  is completed.

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• Together, the warp and weft threads form a grid
  which serves as the foundation of the rug. A
  selvage constructed along each side, usually by
  wrapping a bundle of warp threads with wool or
  cotton yarn. A narrow band composed of only warp
  and weft threads is often woven at the ends of
  the rug to anchor the knots. The weavers then
  take the rug off the loom and finish it by
  knotting or weaving the warp ends together to
  prevent it from unraveling. The loose ends of the
  warps become the fringe

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• The other major class of Oriental rugs is the
  flat weave.
• Different flat weaving techniques such as Kilims,
  durries, sumak and chain stitch produce rugs with
  different thicknesses and surface textures

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• Oriental rug designs may be geometric or
  curvilinear (floral), depending on the type of
  lines used to construct the design, but all
  gradations between the two types exist. Modern
  floral rugs descend from rugs woven in the
  medieval court workshops of Persia, Turkey, and
  India.

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• Geometric rugs, on the other hand, have been
  woven for at least 3000 years by the villagers
  and nomads of the Middle East.

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• Many tribal and village rug designs were passed
  along simply by daughters watching mothers weave.
  Intricate floral rugs must be woven from a
  "cartoon" or plan, a schematic drawing that shows
  where knots of different colors should be placed.
  Floral rugs must be fairly finely woven -- more
  than 100 knots/sq. in, and often more than 200
  knots/sq. in -- in order to carry off the
  intricate design

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• Oriental rug designs usually contain two
  elements the border and the field.
• The border typically consists of a wide main
  border and 4 to 6 (or more) subsidiary or guard
  borders, each displaying a repeating design
  motif.

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• The field generally contains either a medallion,
  with or without related corners (spandrels), or a
  repeating (all-over) design.
• Since the field is the background for the design,
  its color determines the overall color tone of
  the rug.

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• Rug designs are usually symmetrical only certain
  tribal pieces, folk art rugs, and prayer rugs are
  intended to be viewed from one direction. Most
  modern rugs are woven from some sort of cartoon,
  but in a number of the smaller villages in
  Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan, weavers produce
  from memory the same designs their ancestors
  used.

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Dhurrie Rugs

• Dhurries are flat woven rugs from India and
  Afghanistan. They are made of cotton or wool and
  come in a huge variety of combinations of light
  pastels or bright colors. Their patterns are
  unique and reversible. The best ones have five or
  six ply wool yarn twisted together to make the
  weft threads. The tighter the weave, the more
  durable the rug.

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Kilim Rugs

• These are also flat woven rugs. The threads in a
  kilim are woven across the warp, not edge to
  edge. The threads are woven so closely together,
  that the threads are invisible. They are made
  primarily in Turkey and Persia. The material used
  in these rugs is wool with a wool foundation. The
  patterns are geometric.

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