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Qarabagh pile rug
Probably from Jebrail, 19th century
This relatively small prayer rug is of a type that was commonly woven with
cochineal as the red dye, rather than madder, as here. As Juerg Rageth quite
correctly noted in his presentation at ACOR 6, the increased use of
cochineal (and indigosulphonic blues and greens) by about 1850 in Turkey
(and cochineal probably slightly later in the Caucasus) completely threw off
traditional color balances in village and nomad rugs and kilims. How did
this piece escape the cochineal scourge?
The design of wide vertical stripes containing boteh within a meander is
fairly common in pile rugs from the Transcaucasus and western Iran, and it
may be derived from either imported fabric or local jajims. Jajims in this
case are probably a more logical source, as there are many such Azarbayjani
warp-faced covers with wide bands of alternating blue and red vertical
stripes which contain repeat geometric designs. The narrow stripes - in this
rug, they are ivory - between the broad red and blue ones are also typical
of Azarbayjani jajims. It seems a natural progression for village weavers to
have substituted curved, urbane boteh in the broad stripes for more angular,
restricted patterns seen in jajims.
The top of the mihrab in this rug is artfully introduced into the striped
pattern so that it does not disrupt. The representation of green hands on
each side of the field is a nice touch. The integration of all the design
elements here by the weaver could not have been easy.
Previously published as plate 27 in Caucasian Prayer Rugs, Ralph Kaffel,
London, 1998
Structural Analysis
Size: 4' 3" x 2' 9" (130 x 84 cm)
Warp: beige wool, Z3S
Weft: undyed 2Z cotton, between 2 and 4 shoots
Pile: wool, symmetric knot; 99kpsi
Colors: (8) red, dark blue, ivory, green, light blue, aubergine, dark
brown/black, yellow
Ends: Top: remnants of a narrow transverse braid; bottom: warp fringe
Sides: 2 pairs of warps, wrapped in red and green wool in figure-8 fashion
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