Hereke in pure silk | 117 x 65 cm | Nr. 20422

Floral Hereke in pure silk, cream white with border and medallion

Origin	Turkey
Dimensions	117 cm x 65 cm (= 0.76 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: pure silk Weft & Warp: pure silk
knots per m²2	490.000
Pile height	3mm
Year of manufacture	1990
Colour	Cream white, dusky pink
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Very valuable silk rugs come from the Turkish town of Hereke. The tradition was fostered by the art-loving Sultan Abd-ul-Medjid (reigned 1839 - 1861). In 1844 he had the court workshops moved back from Cairo to Hereke. Hand-knotted Hereke silk rugs are among the finest rugs in the world and are knotted at densities of up to 6 million knots per m². Thanks to the knotting technique, incidentally, the pattern is just as clearly visible on the back as it is on the front. At renowned art auction houses, antique Turkish rugs fetch top prices.

Typical motifs on Hereke rugs are flowers, branches and leaves, as well as birds, the tree of life and the so-called Mehrab or Mihrab pattern, a prayer niche shown together with oil lamps. Alongside traditional motifs and typically Ottoman or Turkish patterns, Hereke silk rugs are today also knotted with more modern designs suited to contemporary taste. Typical colours for Hereke silk rugs are a deep dark blue, a radiant red, a lively green, a luminous yellow and a range of natural tones in every shade.

Pattern

The lavish floral motifs of this Hereke are elegant and full of variety. The graceful plant symbols, depicting blossoms, leaves and branches, are artfully intertwined.

The decorated surround (border) forms a wonderful contrast to the centre and shapes the transition at the edge of the rug.

The surface of this Hereke has a mottled look. The shifts in tone and the light-and-dark shading of the pile yarn run across the length of the rug, making the colours shimmer and keeping the rug forgiving of dirt. These so-called colour jumps, abrash, give the rug a livelier feel. The mottling comes about because the wool of this Hereke was hand-spun. During dyeing, the natural dyes are taken up to differing degrees.

At the heart of this Hereke's central field lies the symmetrical centre, also known as the medallion. The design of the field is subordinate to the medallion, so that the medallion appears to float on the field.

The background of this Hereke is cream white. The border is worked in dusky pink, cream white and gold. In the dusky pink centre, blue-grey and dark blue are combined.

Condition

You are not the first to take a liking to this Hereke. It had owners before you who valued and used it. It was hand-knotted around 1990. We have cleaned it thoroughly and restored it with care. Despite its age, it is therefore in very good condition.

Material

The silk of this Hereke's pile makes the colours of the pattern glow in ever-changing nuances, depending on how the light falls. It turns this Hereke into a real highlight and creates an atmosphere in the room that is cosy and at the same time highly elegant and refined. Silk is obtained by hand from the cocoons of the silkworm. Because the individual silk filaments are extremely long, very fine yarns can be spun that are light in weight yet still tear-resistant. Fine yarn allows smaller knots to be tied and therefore more intricate patterns to be created. That is why the finest rugs in the world are hand-knotted from pure silk. In this Hereke even the foundation is made of pure silk. Thanks to the thin but hard-wearing material of the weft and warp threads, a particularly fine knotting and therefore a particularly fine pattern are possible.