Turkish

Carpet, Prayer Carpet, single niche carpet, hand knotted woollen pile on woollen warp and weft, Turkish, 19th century
WARP: white wool; Z2S; 15 threads per inch (60 per dm); slightly depressed.
WEFT: yellow wool; Z-spun, unplied; 2 shoots after each row of knots; 6 knots per inch (25 per dm); lazy lines.
PILE: wool; 10 colours: red, orange (faded) dark yellow, yellow, green (faded), dark blue, light blue, dark brown, brown, white; symmetrical knot tied around 2 threads; 45 knots per sq. inch (750 per sq. dm).
SIDE FINISH: 2 cords overcast with mainly yellow wool.
END FINISH: Lower: 1" (2.5 cms)plain weave with yellow weft; twisted warp fringe with some warp loops. Upper: missing.
DESIGN: Field: mihrab with dark blue ground, pointing downwards and divided into three segments by two vertical columns of light blue with blossoms. There is a central strip of blossoms. The rest of the field is light blue with small blossoms in rows. There is a lower band with 52 large blossoms on a black ground outlined with red. Red appears only in the lower part of the carpet which was woven from the point of the arch downwards.
Borders: 11 narrow borders with small blossoms. The ground colours from the centre are: dark yellow, yellow, dark yellow, white, dark brown, white, dark brown, white, dark yellow, yellow, dark yellow.

Catalogue Date: 20.10.97

Small carpets with a single arch are often referred to as 'prayer carpets' because mats are often used to define a person's space during Muslim prayer rituals. The arch is usually taken to represent the mihrab or decorative panel in the wall of a mosque which indicates the direction of Mecca.

1546-1903