Hand-Knotted Carpets of Pakistan

Written by Mastura Raheel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Textiles and Interior Design, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

With the recent resurgence of interest in historical textiles, hand-knotted oriental carpets are appearing in more and more interiors in the western world. Oriental carpets offer a broad range of colors and designs that share the attributes of beauty and compatibility in both contemporary and classic interiors. The effectiveness of the oriental carpet is derived from its timelessness. Jack Lenor Larsen, designer, writer and scholar, stated: “Creativity, which in the industrial age has been reserved for an economic elite, must now be directed to the most masses. Fabric is a usable art, its connotation is beauty and ornament, delight and sensuality. It has many times been considered a symbol of wealth and status-something to invest in and treasure.”

Introduction

The modern carpet makers in Pakistan have brought carpets out of the palaces of princes and nawabs and placed them within reach of large numbers of people. In the process, they have transformed carpet weaving from a closely knit family enterprise into one of the major small-scale industries in Pakistan. Among the oriental carpets, the Pakistani carpet is now second in the world, next only to the high-priced Iranian variety.
The art of carpet weaving was brought to the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556-1605 A.D.) when he acquired Persian weavers with the help of Shah Abbas of Persia (Iran) and started manufacturing carpets in the subcontinent. In the beginning, Persian designs were either copied or the designs were created by Persian craftsmen. Thus, there is a class of carpets from the 16th and 17th centuries known as Indo-Ispahan or Indo-Persian. Gradually a change took place in design, until the typical Indo-Pakistan designs developed. The centers of carpet weaving were Agra (India) and Lahore (Pakistan), but gradually Lahore diminished in importance as Amritsar (now in India) became the center of carpet weaving. However, carpet weavers were Muslim craftsmen who, after the Independence of Pakistan in 1947, migrated to Pakistan and settled in and around Lahore. Thus, historically, Lahore was the pioneer in handknotted carpets in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, and still continues to play a dynamic role. The priceless Girdlers’ Company rug (1634 A.D.) in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, containing the arms of Robert Bell, director of the company, was made in Lahore. The rural Panjab and Sind also have their share of carpet weaving.

Historical

The earliest known oriental carpet was discovered in 1949 in a Scythian burial site at Pazyryk in the Altai region, about 50 miles from the Outer Mongolian border in Russia. The Scythians, a nomadic tribe of Iranian origin, were influenced by both Graeco-Roman and the Chinese civilizations. The Pazyryk carpet, considered to date back to the fifth century B.C., is of rare beauty and woven with great technical skill. It has a quatrefoil field design framed by five bands of borders. The outer of the two principal border bands has a row of horsemen, seven on each side. Though the horsemen look Persian in costume, the Scythians originally came from northern Persia and were influenced by Persian costume. The fact that Scythians used to bury seven, or a multiple of seven, horses with each chief confirms the origin of the Pazyryk carpet as Scythian.
The Assyrian palace of Senna-cherib (7th century B.C.) in Nineveh had pavements decorated in a similar manner as the Pazyryk carpet, the central field with an all-over pattern of intersecting circles being surrounded by a border of four stripes.
The quatrefoil pattern also appears in the palace at Nineveh. Thus, carpets were not developed in imitation of animal skins; it is more likely that they evolved as a mobile substitute for mosaic.
The existence of the Pazyryk carpet presupposes that the people of Mesopotamia knew the art of knotting carpets. since the Scythians had many contacts with Mesopotamian people and probably learned the art of carpet knotting from them. Carpets were undoubtedly made in various important cultural centers of Asia at that time, chiefly in Sardis. the Lydian capital which became one of the seats of the Persian administration after 546 B.C., and Babylon, which was conquered by Cyrus in 538 B.C. Thus, Cyrus introduced the art of carpet making into Persia, which became the epicenter of the craft and was acknowledged by Egypt as the successor of Assyria.

Carpet Weaving

Carpet making is a sophisticated art but employs simple technology. Apart from the great skill and patience of the crafts person, it requires a loom and a few simple tools, such as a knife, a beater, and shears. Simple vertical looms are used with roller beams connected by vertical poles. The warp and weft yarns are undyed cotton, and pile yarns are made of wool. The quality of wool which varies from region to region depends on whether it is sheared or pulled. Sheared wool is obtained by combing the sheep’s fleece in the winter and shearing it in spring. Pulled wool is obtained from the fleece of dead animals by loosening them with a lime wash that makes the fibers dull, rough, and lifeless.
Sheep wool from Baluchistan and Cholistan is considered the best variety for good quality carpets; in washing and scouring, the extraction rate of wool is 80%. Woolen and semi-worsted yarns of 3 to 16 counts are used, better carpets are made of two-ply yarns. A straight and strong edge is contructed by weaving a smooth strip, after which knotting of the pile yarns begins.

Knotting

The knotting of the wool pile yarns onto the cotton warp is achieved by two techniques, the Turkish and the Persian knot. A notable characteristic of the Turkish or Ghiordes knot is that the two yarn ends appear together between the two adjacent warp yarns around which they are twisted. In the Persian or Sehna knot, the yarn ends are brought to the surface, either to the left or the right of each of the adjacent warp yarns about which they are twisted, thus forming a right-hand or left-hand pile. The Sehna knot provides a more uniform distribution of knots and allows a tighter weave and a shorter pile, thus making the decorative motif very sharp and clear.
Most Pakistani carpets use the Sehna or single knot. After each knot is tied, the weaver pulls about one inch of the wool away from the knot in a downward direction. This not only tightens the knot but determines the direction of the pile. it is a characteristic of Pakistani carpets that their appearance differs depending upon the direction of incident light on the pile surface. When a row of knots is completed across the whole width of the carpet, the weft yam is interlaced with the warp: generally, there are two weft yarns between each row of knots. The pile is given its first cropping after four or six rows of knots have been made. The final cropping is done by specialized craftsmen when the carpet has been completed. Fine carpets are sheared very close, while a deeper pile is left on carpets with a lower knot density. The fringe across the two widths is part of the ground warp yarns, which are tied into knots to finish the two edges.
In Pakistan, carpets are treated in family workshops where young girls and women patiently tie differently colored knots with their supple fingers to form the pattern. Sometimes geometric, sometimes floral, the designs grow instinctively out of the basic tradition. Nevertheless, a precise pattern drawn on a squared cartoon on which each square represents a knot is also used. In the cities there are family workshops and larger concerns. In factories, carpets are made by boys and men from age 7 to 70. Usually three to four weavers work on one loom, and one of them or the supervisor (Ustad) chants aloud the number of knots of each color. Factory carpets are made under supervision, therefore there is quality control.

Design

Present day designs are of two broad categories-Persian and Mori. In the first category, Persian designs are closely followed; especially those of Tabriz, Kirman, Kashan, Ardabil, Nain and Qum as well as those depicting hunting and pictorial scenes. The perfection of design, such as birds, beasts and human figures, is in the style of miniature painting. Kirman and Kashan use formal patterns of flower-filled vases, interlocking panels filled with birds and flowers, elaborate and fluid arabesques, as well as the famous 'Tree of Life' motif. Tabriz and Ardabil designs employ large flower-strewn medallion patterns with graceful pendants and floriated corners. Legends and epics are expressed in hanting and pictorial scenes. These designs are created in most standard size rugs in more than 400 knots per square inch, and up to 16 colors.
The second category-Mori, copies the designs of Tekke Bukhara, Saruk, Turkoman, and Kafkazi. These carpets display true Turkoman design and color, with octagons (Gul) indented on all four sides, quartered and decorated with hooks and trefoils. Usually three or four rows of octagons are arranged in compact perpendicular rows. The mastery of the dyer's art is exhibited in a range of deep red tones. The Bukhara designs are rendered in stiff rectilinear floral motifs surrounded by borders of Caucasian characters. Originally 90% of Bukhara carpets were red and black, but after 1960 the number of colors has increased and at present up to thirteen colors are used to create attractive patterns.
Most Pakistani carpets undergo a chemical wash, such as caustic soda and bleach followed by a light shower of sulphuric acid. This treatment enhances the luster and softness of the pile and removes excess of dye, thus eliminating the problem of color bleeding. Nevertheless, this treatment is done under controlled conditions to avoid damage to wool. Pakistani carpets use wool dyed in chrome dyes, thus they exhibit good colorfastness to light and washing.
A sharp eye on the world color trends enables development of shades and color blends to cater to the changing tastes in a competitive market. Carpets in soft shades of colors are exported to France and Italy, while bright red, blue, ivory, and gold cater to the tastes of West Germany and the USA.

Growth of the Carpet Industry

The growth of the hand-knotted carpet industry in Pakistan has been phenomenal. Starting practically from scratch at the time of Independence (1947). with only a handful of families inheriting an orthodox and conventionally-organized trade from their forefathers, the industry now employs more than 500000 people. Of these, there are approximately 375000 weavers; the group of clippers, darners, dyers, washing-men, and designers is approximately 102000; and the remaining 23000 are contractors and those associated with marketing and exports. While direct employment is half a million, the total number of persons supported by the carpet industry is much higher.
During the past five years, the number of looms has increased notably from about 70000 to 150000. Punjab accounts for almost 60% of this capacity, Sindh 3O%, and Baluchistan and northern areas 10%.
Pakistan joined the world market in 1956, against such competitors as Iran, Afghanistan, and India, who had an already developed industry and an organized export machinery. However, Pakistan penetrated successfully into the London market which was at that time the carpet trading center of the world. Germany and Italy were the major buyers, thus introducing Pakistani carpets in Western Europe. In 1960, serious efforts were made to improve the quality of Pakistani carpets and export promotion. Another factor that helped Pakistan's carpet industry was the white revolution in Iran and the exploitation of its vast oil reserves, that created dramatic changes in its industrial pattern with emphasis on heavy industry. As a direct consequence of these changes in Iran, the production of hand-knotted carpets dropped substantially and there was a steep escalation of Iranian carpet prices in the early seventies. Pakistan was in a position to supply equally beautiful products at a much lower cost. Thus, Pakistan has become the emerging giant of hand knotted carpets. In 1970, Pakistan exported carpets worth $12 million, whereas at present the export value is $90 million.

Conclusions

Pakistani hand-knotted carpets and rugs are the result of transplanting the Persian art of carpet making into the subcontinent in the 16th century when Akbar (1556-1605), the moghal emperor, brought Persian craftsmen and resettled them in and around Lahore. Thus Pakistani carpets are the expression of an art form deeply imbued in Persian as well as Indo-Pakistani tradition and culture. Over the centuries some modifications of the Persian designs have taken place, but essentially the designs and techniques remain Persian. A second category of Pakistani carpets, called Mori, are inspired by Bokhara, Saruk, and Turkoman designs. Initially most Pakistani Bokharas and Turkomans were created in deep red tones and black, but at present, more than thirteen colors are used.
The design or style of a carpet does not necessarily determine carpet quality. Within the same style and pattern, carpets are produced at different quality levels. Quality depends upon the raw materials used (cotton, wool, silk), the intricacy of design, the tightness of construction or pile density (number of knots per square inch), uniformity of pile, uniformity of tension (ability of carpet to lie flat-no curled edges), proper edge finish (knotting and tieing of fringe), color-fastness to light and moisture, and the overall aesthetic quality.
The price of hand-knotted oriental carpets has skyrocketed because of industrialization of carpet making countries, especially Iran, which was a major source of oriental carpets in the USA. With the current political turmoil in Iran, carpet export to the United States is at a standstill. Pakistan is in a unique position to export quality hand-knotted Persian and Bohkara carpets at a comparatively low price. Thus Pakistan is emerging as the major exporter of Persian design hand knotted carpets to the Western World.

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