Spanish Carpet

Spanish Carpet
General information
Name	Spanish Carpet
Original name	فرش اسپانیا، قالی اسپانیا
Alternative name(s)	Spanish Rug
Origin	Spain
Technical information
Pile material	Cotton
Foundation material	Goat Hair, Wool
Knot type	Symmetrical (Turkish)

Spanish Carpet or Spanish Rug is one of the western rugs that woven in Spain.
Most of the Iberian peninsula was under Muslim rule from the eighth until the thirteenth century. The Muslims were finally expelled in 1492. Records show that Spain was an important rug production area from the twelfth century. Existing Spanish cut-pile rugs from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries were woven with knots tied to single warps. Knots are in staggered rows, usually with a single three-stranded weft. Mudejars (Moors, i.e. Muslims of Arab or Berber origin who remained in Spain after the Christian reconquest) wove rugs in two styles: a synthesis of Islamic, Christian, and folk motifs and copies of Turkish motifs.
Many rugs bearing coats of arms have survived and these have been used to date rugs from the early part of the fifteenth century. Often these armorial rugs have Kufesque borders. Rugs influenced by Turkish styles have large octagon medallions or Holbein or Lotto designs. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Turkish styles became dominant. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, copies of Aubusson and Savonnerie carpets were woven using the Turkish knot.

History

Spain is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea in the south and east, France to the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the northwest, and Portugal to the west.
Textile and silk production in Spain was established under the Umayyad caliphate occupation in the second half of the eighth century CE. Moorish Mohammedan weavers settled in Spain and brought carpet weaving knowledge and expertise with them.
Spain is known for producing some of the earliest European floor coverings. Early carpets were made for royalty, nobility, and the Church. Queen Eleanor of Castile (1241-1290) brought carpets to England after her marriage to King Edward I (r. 1272-1307) in the latter part of the thirteenth century. These carpets were from Granada and created great interest in England, as carpets were practically unknown in Britain at that time.
Spain became the leader in commercial carpet manufacturing in Europe by the fifteenth century. Notable Spanish weaving centers were in the Murcia province in the towns of Alcaraz and Letur and other well-known locations such as Alpujarra, Cuenca, Granada, Madrid, Almeria, and Cordoba.
Spanish carpets were made in medallion or all over styles, with either geometric or floral patterns. Early carpet designs have flower, leaf, and vine motifs combined with Judeo-Christian, Islamic, or Iberian symbols. Balanced and proportional designs of interlacing patterns were popular and highly prized. A motif found in early Spanish carpets is the Star form, a symbol that can be traced to the Jewish origin of the Star of David and the Seal of Solomon. Christian motifs, most notably the cross, were woven in the field and borders of carpets. Islamic religious phrases, inscriptions, or Kufic interwoven lettering also appear in the field, panels, or borders. Kufic designs can form a poem or a saying, or can be rendered without meaning, simply as decorative elements. Other designs such as flowers, trees, Shrub motifs, wheels, animal shapes, human figures, beads, and family coats-of-arms can be found in early Spain carpets.
After the Christian Reconquista of Spain in 1492, weavers began to incorporate more European designs. Gothic and Renaissance influences brought new patterns and motifs, for instance the Lattice style and popular design elements such as wreaths, garlands, exotic animal figures, birds, the Vase motif, and acanthus leaves.
Heraldry was popular and had an important function in Spanish carpet designs. As the rugs were commissioned by noble families and the Church, family coats-of-arms, insignias, or crests were often woven in carpets. The Castile and Leon unification in the fifteenth century was a historical period for Spain, and the coat-of-arms with a castle and a crowned lion was a powerful symbol at this time. Weavings with heraldic emblems, called "armorial" or "admiral" carpets, are believed to been made in Murcia Province. Admiral Carpets appear in several paintings and frescos in Europe, notably in Hans Holbein the Younger's 1522 painting Solothurn Madonna. The approximate age and general location of a Spanish carpet's manufacture can at times be determined by designs and coloration.
Anatolian (Turkish) and Persian carpets and textiles were imported in large quantities to Spain in the sixteenth century. Weavers were inspired by these products and reproduced Anatolian field patterns during this period. For example, the design seen in Holbein Rugs was copied, and it became the model for the wreath and wheel designs. The Lotto Rugs pattern was also frequently emulated.
Early Spanish carpet coloration featured reds, deep greens, light greens, yellows, blues, beige, light gold, and dark browns. After the Christian Reconquista of 1492, a gradual change in tonality occurred, with rugs and carpets having fewer, more muted hues for the designs. A few factors may have contributed to this outcome, such as the exodus of skilled Jewish dyers during the Inquisition, the import of cochineal dyes from abroad, or a change in color sensibilities. Some of these carpets were consistently produced with limited coloration, featuring just two to five colors, especially in Murcia Province and the city of Cuenca. The limited palette execution in rugs possibly allowed for faster weaving.
In 1721 King Philip V (r. 1700-1746) founded the Royal Tapestry Factory, known as the Real Fabrica de Tapices, in Madrid. Philip V was born at the Pal-ace of Versailles in France, and was the first Bourbon king to rule Spain. He greatly admired French decorative arts and established a domestic luxury weaving industry to reduce dependency on foreign imports. He invited to the Spanish capital city Flemish weaver Jacobo Vandergoten (1659-1724) of Antwerp to become the first director of the royal tapestry workshop and to emulate the success French kings had achieved at the Gobelins Royal Manufactory in Paris. Vandergoten's sons would succeed leadership in the workshop after his death in 1724, notably Cornelio Vandergoten (1714-1786), who initiated carpet weaving production starting in 1737 on a large scale in the factory.
Charles III (r. 1759-1788) shared his father's ambition, continuing to oversee the weaving of carpets and tapestries at the manufactory. A great admirer of French Aubusson Carpets and Savonnerie Carpets weavings, the king sought to imitate and produce Savonnerie-style carpets. Madrid carpet designs incorporated floral garlands, flowers, bouquets, royal emblems, and other decorative French motifs. Under the direction of carpet manufacturer Cornelio Vandergoten from 1737 until 1786 and, later, his nephew, Livinio Stuyck Vandergoten (1756-1817), with the patronage of Charles III, Madrid production thrived. The manufacturing of carpets at the Real Fabrica de Tapices was a successful enterprise and created jobs and provided wages for impoverished and orphaned children. The kingdom continued to commission carpets to decorate the magnificent Escorial Palace and other royal residences.
Early Spanish carpet foundations were made with goat hair or sheep wool. Cotton was primarily used beginning in the late eighteenth century. At the start of the nineteenth century, jute was chosen for the weft. Early Spanish weavings utilized goat hair or sheep wool for the pile, but by the eighteenth century wool was primarily employed.
Early Spanish rugs and carpets were woven with a unique technique known as the single-warp knot. This method is so typical in Spanish carpets that it has come to be called the "Spanish" knot in the trade. In this technique, knots are wrapped around alternate warps in successive rows, creating an unpredictable alignment. All other carpet weaving regions use double warps for the knot construction. During the seventeenth century, the Turkish (symmetric) knot was used along with the single-warp knot.
Early carpets made in Spain were commissioned in gallery sizes by royalty, nobility, and the Church. Carpets with long lengths and narrow widths were unusual and added elegance to wealthy family residences without covering large portions of their floors. Generally, the preference was not to cover large areas because of the very warm climate. For the Church, weavings in long and narrow formats would fit the aisle to the altar. Over the course of several centuries, many early Spanish carpets were shortened to room measurements for practical use and enjoyment. By the eighteenth century, weavers expanded to weave standard room dimensions and large oversize carpets.
Today Spain continues to produce various European designs by commission and to accommodate market demand. Throughout the centuries, Spanish carpets were woven in several qualities ranging from low to very good in grade. Early Spanish carpets appear in museums and private collections.

Bibliography

• Abraham Levi Moheban. 2015. The Encyclopedia of Antique Carpets: Twenty-Five Centuries of Weaving. NewYork: Princeton Architectural Press.
• Peter F. Stone. 2013. Oriental Rugs: An Illustrated Lexicon of Motifs, Materials, and Origins. North Clarendon: Tuttle.