After nearly 12 years in Turkeyand a lifetime of loving weavings and embroideries, I’m hardly an expertdespite a formal textile education. In a city like Istanbul,I’m surrounded by generations of rug merchants who could offer the equivalentof a PhD in techniques, styles and the various regions from which their warescome. While I’ve met a few visitors to our shop who have astounded me withtheir knowledge, most people know next to nothing. I play the role ofenthusiast, trying to open eyes to the beauty and history within each uniquepiece.
Like this Shirazcarpet from Iran,for example. What attracts me most about this piece are the colors – a warm chocolatebrown combined with two vibrant shades of turquoise, instead of the usual deep red and blue. These hues areoffset by the rich indigo – a more typical color, though here it’s only used asa backdrop for the central field. Best is the strong acidic green used to highlightmost of the motifs, though a fairly rosy pink is less successful andfortunately not used much against the brown. This weaver was not tentativeabout departing from tradition in terms of colors, which seem quite modern tomy eye.
It’s logical that settled tribal weavers near Shiraz,this southwestern city of roses, poets and nightingales, would choose to createa lyrical garden full of floral, water and mountain motifs. These are arrangedin an abundant but formal manner for most of the design, though the flowers playfullyscatter at each end. The borders, like the tightly fitting triangular mosaicwork for which the city is renown, contain the gardens in a series of narrowand wide boundaries. The remnants of Persepolisand Darius the Great’s Palace are only 70 km away. I like to think the stylizedtrees of life recall the Lebanese cedar beams and those funny motifs floatingon the indigo ground are stylized animals, inspired by the palace’s two-headedanimal sculptures.
Lastly, I’m attracted to the Turkish and Kurdish geometry ofthis piece, even though it’s single knotted in the Persian style, The center diamond-shaped lozenges,typical of the Shiraz style, have stylized crosses at their centers, symbolsthat have been used as far back as Catalhoyuk in Central Anatolia. This ancientmotif protects against evil by dividing it in four pieces. The outermost borderreminds me of the stylized bands of folk dancers that ring the outside of Kurdishkilims, heads and shoulders together, binding the community together withmovement and music.
What do you see inthis carpet?
Do I envy you! This is so inspiring!
Thanks for your kind words, Hagar – it's been a very challenging month so they help to keep me going. Hope to see you someday here in Istanbul!