Hereke in pure silk | 144 x 92 cm | Nr. 17641

Floral Hereke in pure silk, beige with border, medallion and signature

Origin	Turkey
Dimensions	144 cm x 92 cm (= 1.32 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: pure silk Weft & Warp: pure silk
knots per m²2	810.000
Pile height	2mm
Year of manufacture	1990
Colour	Beige, Rust red
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 attuned to contemporary taste. Typical colours for Hereke silk rugs are a deep dark blue, a radiant red, a lively green, a luminous yellow and various natural tones in every shade. Signature: "Hereke"

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 edge of the rug is framed by a decorative border. The border forms a beautiful contrast with the centre.

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.

A special highlight of this Hereke is its signature. The signature records that it was made in one of the most renowned weaving workshops in Hereke. Written in Arabic script, it speaks of the individual character and the noble origins of this rug.

The background of this Hereke is beige. The border is worked in rust red, silver grey and yellow. Blue-grey and dark brown are combined in the terracotta centre.

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. It has been cleaned thoroughly and is in good, though only partly restored, condition. There are a few unobtrusive stains and mended areas on this piece. We have not restored this Hereke completely, because we feel it has a special presence just as it is. If that is what you would like, we will of course happily restore the rug further for you. We can bring almost any rug back to a near-perfect 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.