Turkish carpet
Encyclopedia
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. Important differentiators between the types include the materials, construction and the patterns.
History
Carpets, whether knotted or flat woven (hummas) are among the best known art forms produced by the Turks from time immemorial. There are environmental, sociological, economic, and religious reasons for the widespread art of carpet weaving among the Turkish people from Central Asia to Turkey.The geographical regions where Turks have lived throughout the centuries lie in the temperate zone. Temperature fluctuations between day and night, summer and winter may vary greatly. Turks-nomadic or pastoral, agrarian or town-dwellers, living in tents or in sumptuous houses in large cities-have protected themselves from the extremes of the cold weather by covering the floors, and sometimes walls and doorways, with carpets. The carpets are always hand made of wool or sometimes cotton, with occasional additions of silk. These carpets are natural barriers against the cold. The flat woven kilims which are frequently embroidered are used as blankets, curtains, and covers over sofas or as cushion covers.
In general, Turks take their shoes off upon entering a house. Thus, the dust and dirt of the outdoors are not tracked inside.The floor coverings remain clean, and the inhabitants of the house, if need be, can comfortably rest on the floor. In the traditional households, women and girls take up carpet and kilim weaving as a hobby as well as a means of earning money. Even technological advances which promoted factory-made carpets could not hamper the production of rug weaving at cottage-industry level. Although synthetic dyes have been in use for the last 150 years, hand made carpets are still considered far superior to industrial carpeting. The Ottoman Turks used spindles for additional handmade use.
Turkish carpets are among the most sought after household items all over the world. Their colors, tones, and patterns with traditional motifs have contributed to the status that Turkish carpets have maintained since the 13th century. Marco Polo, who traveled through Anatolia in the late 13th century, commented on the beauty and artistry of the carpets. A number of carpets from this period, known as the Seljuk carpets, were discovered in several mosques in central Anatolia. These were under many layers of subsequently placed carpets. These Seljuk carpets are in the museums in Konya and Istanbul.
Turkish carpets in the 15th and 16th centuries are known through European paintings. For example, in the works of Lotto
Lotto carpet
A Lotto carpet is a hand knotted carpet having a pattern that was primarily produced during the 16th and 17th centuries along the Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey, but also copied in various parts of Europe. It is characterized by a lacy arabesque, usually in yellow on a red ground, often with...
(15th century Italian painter) and Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
, Turkish carpets are seen under the feet of the Virgin Mary, or in secular paintings, on tables. In the 17th century, when the Netherlands became a powerful mercantile country, Turkish carpets were purchased by the Dutch. The Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
represented Turkish carpets predominantly to indicate the economic and social status of the persons in his paintings. Turkey carpets, as they were known, were too valuable to be put on floors, except under the feet of the Holy Mother and royalty.
There are no chairs or benches in a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, only carpets. A Turkish mosque is often covered from wall to wall with several layers of carpets.
The Turkish carpets have colors, motifs, and patterns. No two carpets are the same; each one is a new creation. Traditionally unknown women have woven the carpets; this is one art form that is rarely appreciated as being the work of a known or a specific artist.
Materials
WoolWool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
on wool (wool pile and wool warps and wefts): This is generally the least expensive type of carpet, but often the most "authentic" if such a word can be used. Wool on wool carpets have been made much longer and use more traditional designs than the other types of carpets. Because wool cannot be spun finely, the knot count is often not very high, compared to wool on cotton and silk on silk. High knot count is also not necessary for wool on wool carpets because they are often traditional geometric designs, or otherwise non-intricate patterns.
Wool on cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
(wool pile on cotton warps and wefts): This type of carpet can be much more intricate than wool on wool carpets because cotton can be spun finely and the knot count is generally much higher. In wool on cotton rugs, floral designs etc. are also found, in addition to the geometric patterns.
Silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
on silk (silk pile on silk warps and wefts): This is the most intricate type of carpet with very fine weave. Knot count for silk carpets intended for floor coverings should be no greater than 100 knots per square cm, or 10 X 10 cm² and can be as fine as 28 X 28 knots/cm². Any carpet woven with the knot count greater than 10 X 10 knots/cm² should only be used as a wall or pillow tapestry. These very fine, intricately woven carpets are no larger than 3m X 3m.
Carpets by regions
- Bergama carpetBergama CarpetBergama Carpet refers to handwoven floor coverings made in the town of Bergama in northwest Turkey.Bergama carpets are of all-wool construction and have a knotting density of around 12 knots per cm². They are typically three to four meters square in size and originated from around the 14th to 15th...
- Ushak carpetUshak CarpetUşak carpets, Ushak carpets or Oushak Carpets are Turkish carpets that use a particular family of designs, called by convention after the city of Uşak, Turkey – one of the larger towns in Western Anatolia, which was a major center of rug production from the early days of the Ottoman Empire,...
- Milas carpet
- Hereke carpetHereke carpetHereke Carpets are only produced in Hereke, a coastal town in Turkey, 60 km from Istanbul. The materials used are silk, a combination of wool and cotton and sometimes gold or silver threads....
- Konya Carpets and Rugs
Natural dyes
Carpets can be made with naturalNatural dye
Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources – roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood — and other organic sources such as fungi and lichens....
or chemical dyes. With wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
on wool and wool on cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
carpets, natural dyes are preferable. Natural dyes do not bleed when it gets wet and when you wash the carpet. This can be very important, especially when you are buying a carpet with white in it, because other colours will bleed into the white and make it look very ugly. There are a couple tests that you can do on the carpet to test whether they use chemical or natural dyes. The first is to have a fairly damp white cloth and rub it against the carpet. If the colour is natural dye then only fibres will come out, and that will be the only colour that leaves the carpet, while if chemical dyes are used, colour will actually bleed into the whiteness of the cloth, as well as little pieces of wool coming off. Natural dyes are more expensive than chemical ones and the price of the carpet will thus be higher. Remember to do this test on each colour of the rug
Carpet
A carpet is a textile floor covering consisting of an upper layer of "pile" attached to a backing. The pile is generally either made from wool or a manmade fibre such as polypropylene,nylon or polyester and usually consists of twisted tufts which are often heat-treated to maintain their...
, especially if you are doubting the authenticity of the natural dyes, because its possible that some colours in the rug are natural, others chemical.
Another way to tell if a carpet is natural or chemical dyes, is how it fades. This is especially noticeable if the carpet has been out in the sun for any extended periods of time. You open up the carpet to see the bottom of the thread, often by bending the carpet in half, or just opening it up with your fingers. If the thread
Yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...
near the bottom of the knot is a different shade of colour than the top of the thread, it is a chemical dye.
Silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
carpets are almost always made chemical dyes.
Dead or live wool
Dead wool is cut after the sheep has died, and the wool is harsh and rough because it has lost its natural oilOil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
s. Live wool is sheared when the sheep is alive, and retains the natural oils. Most Turkish Carpets are made of live wool because it is finer and not as rough.
Handspun or machine spun weave
This is only applicable to wool on wool carpets. Machine spunSpinning wheel
A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or synthetic fibers. Spinning wheels appeared in Asia, probably in the 11th century, and very gradually replaced hand spinning with spindle and distaff...
wool is much tighter spun than handspun
Spinning (textiles)
Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...
, one would think this is a good thing but because its much tighter, and wool is not very strong, many of the wool fibres snap while they do this, which limits the lifetime of the carpet. Handspun increases the hours of labour and the price accordingly, but it is not spun as tightly as machine spun so the lifetime of the carpet is longer. Now how to tell whether your rug is handspun or machine spun. The only way to do this is to flip the carpet over and look at the weave. If all the little squares are exactly the same size, then its machine spun. If there are size differences in the squares then it is handspun. It is very difficult to find handspun carpets, especially in the big cities.