Kilim
247 cm x 179 cm
Nr. 18968

Geometric Kilim, blue gray with border, field pattern and diamonds

Place of origin

Bright colors and simple patterns: that's why kilims are loved all over the world. Kilims (also Kelim, Qilim) have traditionally been produced for personal use only. Nomads and farmers not only used and still use their kilims as rugs on the floor, but also as tent or wall hangings, blankets, pillows or bags. Because kilims were constant companions in everyday life, the patterns, however naive they may seem, always carried a personal message and had meaning for the weavers and their families.

In Europe, kilims from Turkey, the Caucasus region, Iran, Afghanistan and the Turkmen cultural area are particularly well-known and popular. In fact, in all countries, in which rugs are knotted, also they are also hand-woven.

Patterns

The so-called field pattern of this Kilim is reminiscent of a lushly overgrown garden with geometrically structured, individually bordered flowerbeds. This design is distinctive, which is why field design rugs are also called garden rugs in German. The individual panels of the design of this Kilim show different motifs, but follow a strictly symmetrical, rectangular arrangement.

There is a reason for this: large parts of Persia and many other regions of the Middle and Near East are desert or steppe-like arid areas, in which so-called irrigation horticulture is often practiced. Water is brought to the beds through small irrigation channels. Field patterns reflect this irrigation system in a very simplified way. Due to drought in these regions, flowering and green gardens are also a characteristic of it. The field pattern is therefore probably due to the desire to bring a little garden and thus a little paradise into the house. In Koran the term garden, a word of ancient Persian origins, appears very often as an earthly counterpart to paradise.

The background of this Kilim is blue gray. The border features light green, beige and gray.

Material

Kilims are hand-woven and are made of warp and weft threads only, i.e. they do not have a thick, upward pointing pile. Kilims have the same pattern on both sides and can, therefore, be used on both sides. The pattern is created by weaving colored weft threads into warp threads. For each new color a new thread must be used in each row. The thread ends are worked in as well.

The weft threads of this kilim rug are made of hand-spun sheep's wool dyed with vegetable dyes. To produce the yarn for the weaving of the rug, sheep are shorn and their wool cleaned, combed and finally spun. After spinning, the wool of the Kelim rugs is dyed with natural dyes through a complex process. Because of this traditional process, the pile of kilim rugs appears dry and slightly fuzzy. The warp threads of this kilim are made of wool.