Kurdi Rug

Kurdi Rug
Design of Kurdi Rug (Rugman)
General information
Name	Kurdi Rug
Original name	قالی کردی
Alternative name(s)	Kurdi Carpet
Origin	Iran: Kurdestan, Kermanshah, Khorasan, Mazandaran
Category	Tribal, Village, City
Technical information
Common designs	Geometric, Buteh, Herati (Fish), Lacahk Toranj, Tribal
Common colors	Red, Blue, Navy Blue, Beige, Cream, Camel
Dyeing method	Natural, Synthetic
Pile material	Wool
Foundation material	Cotton, Wool, Silk
Knot type	Syemmetrical (Turkish), Asyemmetrical (Persian)

History

Kurd Carpets Kurd tribes live across thousands of square miles in the Middle East, concentrated in eastern Anatolia (Turkey), northeastern Iraq, Syria, and Kurdistan in northwestern Iran. The Kurd population is estimated to be twenty-five million people worldwide. Over the centuries many empires and tribes conquered the Kurd region, among them the Tatars, Turkmens, Seljuks, Armenians, and Circassians (Cherkes). The Kurds, however, were strong fighters and were able to force out foreign occupiers to maintain their culture and nationality.
The weaving background of the Kurdish people traces back 3,500 years. They first made looms in order to weave tents and clothing. Kurd rugs and carpets from at least the early eighteenth century are known in the market. The Kurd population has three different identifiable weaving groups: the seminomadic, the village, and the city weaver.
The Kurd village borders can be wider than those of seminomadic rugs, with one or multiple guard borders. Well-known Kurd subtribe village weaving groups such as the Hakkari, Jaff, and Koliai, among others, produce rugs that are often marketed under the subtribe in the antique trade.
The third group is the Kurdish city weavers, who started producing rugs by the early eighteenth century. Some of these rugs and carpets were woven in the famous city of Bidjar, and are recognized in the antique market for their durability.
A second city well known for weaving Kurdish rugs is Sanandaj, although the rugs are known in the antique market as Senna. Senna rugs are known for being beautiful and finely woven, with a high knot count. Some rugs and kilims have a seven-color silk thread warp. These were the only nineteenth-century rugs made with a silk foundation and a wool pile. Today this Senna type is collected and respected worldwide.

Materials

Foundation and Pile

Kurdish seminomadic weavings are generally coarse in grade quality, with a wool foundation and a wool pile. Kurdish village rugs have wool or cotton foundations and wool piles. The Kurdish urban rugs are made with cotton, wool, or silk foundations and a high-grade wool pile.
Senna rugs were woven with a silk, wool, or cotton foundation and a high-quality wool pile. Kilims were made with a cotton, silk, or wool warp.

Techniques and structures

Color and dyeing

Undyed natural white, brown, and black wool also appear in these weavings. The most important Kurd seminomadic rugs colors are reds, browns, black, dark blue, or, at times, ivory. In addition, tones of green, gray, camel, and cinnamon are used for the design elements. Undyed natural white, brown, and black wool also appear in these weavings. Kurd village rugs, compared to the seminomadic Kurdish weavings, are durable and have a wider variety of colors.
Reds, blues, ivory, browns, or black are the most common field and Kurd village border colors. Supple-menting these colors, hues of green, gray, cinnamon, and gold are used for the design elements.
The most popular colors Senna rugs for city carpets are reds, dark blue, and ivory for the field and border. Additional shades of green, brown, cinnamon, coral, camel, and gold are employed for the design elements, and occasionally, the background and borders. Brown, black, or dark blue is used for design outlines.

Motifs and Designs

Kurd seminomadic rugs have geometric and primitive designs in either medallion or allover styles. Nomadic designs, Star and stylized Hook motifs, and flower heads surround the major field patterns. Often, animals and birds are woven in the background and borders. Only in Anatolia (Turkey) did seminomadic weavers create Mihrab (prayer arch) designs.
The styles Kurd village rugs are geometric and have all-over or center medallion designs. Large palmettes, flower heads, ornaments, animals, birds, and flowers with vines and leaves are woven. Traditional Minakhani (rosette-linked trellis) and Herati (fish) patterns are also employed for field designs.
Generally, Kurdish urban carpet designs are floral or semigeometric with an allover or medallion style.

Weaving techniques

All solely employ the Turkish (symmetric) knot. Kurd seminomadic weavings are made for personal use and for sale in the markets. Flatwoven Kilim rugs, tribal items, small bags, and rugs in sizes up to approximately eight feet by five feet are made.
The Kurdish village weavers also make kilims. Formats range from small bag face rugs to carpets approximately ten feet by seven feet, along with runners and gallery sizes. The quality of village rugs is generally from medium to good in grade.
Senna rugs are known for being beautiful and finely woven, with a high knot count. Kurd city weavers make a variety of sizes and weave qualities up to very fine in grade. In particular, Bidjars are woven in vast dimensions, including small mats, scatter rugs, runners, and room-size carpets up to thirty feet by twenty feet. Senna silk foundation rug formats range from small pillows to gallery sizes of sixteen feet by eight feet.

Bibliography

• Abraham Levi Moheban, (2015), The Encyclopedia of Antique Carpets: Twenty-Five Centuries of Weaving, NewYork: Princeton Architectural Press.