Hereke in pure silk | 123 x 74 cm | Nr. 19659

Hereke in pure silk

Delivery time	2 days
Origin	Turkey
Dimensions	123 cm x 74 cm (= 0.91 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: pure silk
knots	360.000
Condition	pre-owned, cleaned & partially restored
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.

Material

The silk in the pile of this Hereke in pure silk makes the colours of the pattern shine in ever different facets, depending on how the light falls. It turns this Hereke in pure silk into a true jewel and creates an atmosphere in the room that is cosy and at the same time very 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 produced that remain tear-resistant despite their low weight. This fine yarn allows smaller rug knots to be tied and thus finer patterns to be created. That is why the finest rugs in the world are hand-knotted from pure silk.

With this Hereke in pure silk, even the foundation is made of pure silk. Because the weft and warp threads are made of this thin yet hard-wearing material, an especially fine knotting – and with it an especially fine pattern – becomes possible.

Condition

You are not the first to take a liking to this Hereke in pure silk. It has had owners before you who valued and used it. It was knotted around 36. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good, though only partially restored, condition. Only the pile has grown a little thinner over the years. The fringes could be re-secured at some point. We have not fully restored this Hereke in pure silk because we feel it has a special presence just as it is. If that is what you would like, we will of course carry on restoring the rug for you. We can bring almost any rug back to near-perfect condition.