soumak, 1800s, Caucasian; Kuba

Carpet, countered soumak woven with wool, flatweave, Caucasian, mid-19th century

WARP: white wool; Z2S; 20 threads per inch (72 per dm).

WEFT: Foundation: wool, sometimes white, sometimes red; Z2S; 1 shoot after each row of soumak; 14 shoots per inch (53 per dm). Soumak: wool Z2S; 9 colours: red, yellow, light yellow, green, dark blue, blue, pink, dark brown, very light brown; soumak thread over 4 warp threads and back under 2.

SIDE FINISH: returned weft.

END FINISH: Lower: knotted fringe, 5 rows (maximum) of knots with loose threads beyond; maximum total length is 7" (18 cms). Upper: as above but with a max. length of 9" (23 cms).

DESIGN: Field: red ground with one row of three large medallions, the outer dark blue, the inner, green. The lower two contain a blue cross within a pink octagon; the upper medallion has a red octagon filled with small, variously coloured boteh. A pair of large yellow octagons are beneath each medallion with a smaller pair above the highest. Along the sides of the field are six pairs of inward-facing, pointed, dark brown objects; along the lower end is a band of 11 rosettes with other rosettes together with small stylised animals and birds scattered across the field. Along all four edges is a narrow band of blue diamond heads reciprocating with the field ground; they become light blue towards and along the top.
Main border: dark brown ground with a red zigzag edged with blue, and to each side are stepped triangles.
Inner and outer borders: upper and lower have a white ground with small rosettes paired by colour. The sides have similar rosettes within small, white, adjacent octagons.
Outermost border: reciprocal 'running dog' pattern in dark brown and red outlined in yellow.

Date catalogued: 7.5.97

Soumak is a form of weft-wrapping: the weft thread goes forwards in front of a group of warp threads and then backwards behind a smaller group. Almost all soumak carpet have balanced designs in which every part is in proportion to the others. The main elements of many Caucasian carpets, such as the medallions and octagons in this, seem to have been drawn or charted for the weavers to follow, but the dozens of tiny motifs which are scattered across the field were added by the weavers.

365-1878