Bag closures. A very wide variety of closures is used for tribal and nomadic bags. These include ties, drawstrings, laceing, loop-through-loop, and the most common loop-through-slit closure.
Loop-through-slit bag closure
Loop-through-loop bag closure
Drawstring bag closure
bag face. See “face.”
bâgh (Persian). Garden.
baghmal (Tajik, variant of makhmal). An ikat of silk velvet.
Baharestan. See “Spring Carpet of Chosroes.”
Baharlu. A Turkic tribe of the Khamseh Confederacy of southwest Iran. Their rugs usually have symmetric knots. See “Khamseh Confederacy.”
Bahluli. A subtribe of the Baluchis inhabiting northern Iran.
baize. See “bayeta.”
Bakhshaish. A village in Persian Azerbaijan, southwest of Heriz. Contemporary rugs of this village are of the Heriz design. Older rugs of Bakhshaish were woven with the Herati pattern. The symmetric knot is used.
Bakhshaish rug Grogan & Company
Bakhtiari. A nomadic tribe (though two-thirds are now sedentary) inhabiting an area of west central Iran, southwest of Isfahan. The Bakhtiaris are a subtribe of the Lurs, speaking an Iranian language. Some researchers classify Bakhtiari pile rugs as nomadic or village based on structural distinctions. Symmetrically knotted double-wefted rugs on a wool foundation are regarded as nomadic or tribal. Symmetrically knotted single-wefted rugs on a cotton foundation are regarded as village production. Many of these have brown-black overcast edges. Designs are primarily rectangular or lozenge-shaped compartments filled with brightly-colored stylized floral or garden motifs and long rugs with vertical stripes containing small botehs. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Bakhtiari wove a number of fine rugs carrying inscriptions in an end strip or cartouche. These inscriptions were dates and dedications to Bakhtiari khans.
Bakhtiari flatweaves include kilims, saddlebags, salt bags, mafrash, and warp-faced tablet-woven bands. Many of the bags are woven in the soumak structure. The bags often have a pile strip at the bottom. Some kilims are woven in two strips. The inter locking weft structure is used in Bakhtiari kilims. End panels outside the kilim borders are a design feature of some Bakhtiari kilims. See “Chahâr Mahâl,” “kheshti,” “Lurs,” and “Shushtar.”
Bakhtiari rug Grogan and Company
baklava design. A design in Anatolian kilims and pile rugs of diamonds with saw-tooth or serrated edges. The diamonds may be medallions or small repeats. Baklava is a Turkish pastry traditionally cut in a diamond shape.
Baklava design
Baku. A city at the base of the Apsheron peninsula in the Caucasus, formerly in Persian Azerbaijan. Baku was a khanate until annexed by Russia in 1806. The term “Baku” is applied to nineteenth-century rugs of Baku, Chila, Surahani, and Sâliâni. Boteh are a common motif in Baku rugs. Colors are often turquoise blue and earth tones. These rugs have symmetric knots at an average density of 84 per square inch. The average area is 35 square feet. They are slightly more likely to be cotton-wefted (52%) than wool-wefted (45%). Wefts are usually white, but blue and red-wefted examples are found. See “Caucasus,” “Chila,” and “Surakhany.”
Baku rug (detail) Azerbaijan Rug
bala-khachi (Turk.). Narrow borders on either side of a main border.
balanced plain weave. A plain weave (the simplest interlacing of warp and weft) in which warp and weft are of the same size, equally spaced and have the same count. Both sides are structurally identical. See “plain weave.”
Balanced plain weave
balanced twill weave. A float weave in which continuous wefts systematically skip warps and/or warps systematically skip wefts in a diagonal alignment and warp and weft counts are equal. See “twill weave.”
Balanced twill weave
bales. See “balisht”
Bahawalpur. A town and district of southeastern Pakistan. It is a source of commissioned workshop rugs.
Balıkesir. A town of northwest Anatolia. A market source of rugs woven on an all-wool foundation with knot densities of about 40 to 80 symmetric knots per square inch. Some rugs are produced in Kazak designs. There are small, one-piece, tapestry-woven kilims from the area. These are primarily red and blue with interlocking latch hook designs. See “Yüncü.”
Balıkesir rug (detail) Yuran
balisht, bales, blesht, pushti (Persian, “cushion, bolster”). A bag woven by the Baluchis, Kurds, and Pashtuns. These bags are about 16 by 32 inches. They have one pile and one flatwoven face or they may be entirely flatwoven. They may be used as pillows.
Baluchi
