Prayer carpet, hand knotted woollen pile on woollen warp and weft, Turkish, 19th century.

Prayer carpet, hand knotted woollen pile on woollen warp and weft, Turkish, 19th century.
Woven from the point.
WARP: light green wool and white wool; Z2S with some Z3S mainly at the lower end where it was added to form a fringe; 10 threads per inch (45 per dm).
WEFT: red wool; z-spun, unplied; 2 shoots after each row of knots; 5 knots per inch (19 per dm).
PILE: wool; 8 colours: red, yellow, light green, dark blue, blue, dark brown, brown, white; symmetrical knot tied around 2 threads; 20 knots per sq. inch (427.5 per sq. dm).
SIDE FINISH: 2 cords overcast with white wool. Later oversewn in places.
END FINISH: Lower: missing. Upper: missing but a briad of red and pink wool twisted together has been added.
DESIGN: field: described as in use. Red ground with pointed niche, the point having four sides and ending in a triangle containing a pair of red horns. The blue outline of the niche divides and enters the field at the lower end. The red squared zigzag on the blue ground has a 4-petelled flower in each square and terminates with a carnation and the niche encloses a green diamond. With the re-entrant is a yellow, green and dark blue vase with handles and on either side is an outward facing ewer (the left is green the right is blue). Above the vase is a light green stem with short branches in brown and light green. In the niche it bears a dark blue ewer (up side down), a pair of carnations and 2 large stylised tulips. Small flowers grow inward from the dge of the niche and include a pair of carnations. In a band at the base of the stem are a pair of brown tulips, a pair of ewers and a pair of floral sprigs and other small motifs. Outside the blue niche border the red ground has (bottom) multi-coloured meander and (sides) irregualr disgonal blocks in various colours. The joined spandrels are dark blue with dark red angular tracery (with projections) tipped with white or yellow and with a line of stylised flowers at the very top.
Main border: dark blue ground with a floral angular meander, the stem bears angular branches and links a square blossom in red, light green or blue and a brown or red leaf.
Inner border: white ground with a red meander with a stylised red leaf and small square blossom; there are similar flowers alongside the meander.
Outer border: red ground with a light green angular meander (evidence for this at the bottom but missing at the top).
Catalogue Date: 1.12.97

Purchased from the Anglo-Persian Carpet Company, London. Registered File number 1929/5724

Small carpets such as this with a single arch are sometimes 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. Some prayer or niche carpets are woven from the point of the arch, as this one is. There is no technical reason why this should be so, unless the weaver is working with a warp of limited length. If this is the case, it may be better to start at the pointed end of an arch knowing that there is plenty of length available. It would be disastrous to work from the base, begin to form the arch with converging diagonal lines, and then run out of warp before you were able to complete the borders!

T.92-1929