on animal fibers, but were not colorfast. See “acid dyes” and “dye, synthetic.”
basket weave. A plain weave in which there are multiple warps and multiple wefts (such as pairs or triplets) interlaced. In a basket weave, the number of warps woven as a group equals the number of wefts woven as a group.
Basket weave
baskur. A tent band. See “tent band.”
Basmakçı. A town of western Anatolia. It is the source of a large contemporary production of all-wool rugs in Caucasian designs. Knot densities are about 120 per square inch.
bast. Woody vegetable fibers used for weaving such as flax, hemp, jute, or straw.
bat. The bat is often represented singly or in groups in Chinese and Tibetan rugs. Five bats (wufu) are emblematic of blessings.
Bat
Bauhaus. A design movement in Germany founded by Hermann Muthe sius and Walter Gropius in the early twentieth century. Rug weavers who participated in the movement produced pile and flat woven rugs with designs of non-objective geometric shapes. See “Art Moderne.”
Bavânât. See “Bowanat.”
Bayburt. A town of northeast Anatolia. It is thought to be the source of kilims with stepped mihrabs and ornate multiple borders. Dominant colors are ochre and olive green. Many of these kilims are dated. Gilt metal threads and silk were used in some of these kilims.
bayeta. A fabric woven on treadle looms in New Mexico in the nineteenth century. The nap was raised on the fabric after it was taken from the loom. Also, wool yarn from blankets made in Spain and England that was unraveled by Navajos and rewoven into Navajo blankets. Dyes used in these yarns are critical in dating Navajo blankets of the 19th century. The English equivalent of bayeta is baize.
bayeta serapes. A type of Navajo blanket woven between 1830 and about 1850 and containing a high proportion of bayeta yarn. These blankets were of the highest weaving quality. A common design was diamonds superimposed on stripes.
beam. The horizontal member of the loom frame on which warps are wound or fastened. On a roller beam loom, warps are unwound from the top beam of the loom and the textile is rolled upon the lower beam of the loom as the textile is woven. Since the warps must be maintained in tension as the fabric is woven, there are various means of spreading the beams. Wedges or twisted ropes are used on primitive looms, screw and/or ratchet devices are used on commercial looms. See “breast beam,” “loom,” and “warp beam.”
Beams on a loom
beater. A weighted wood or metal comb used to beat wefts down against each row of knots as a carpet is woven on the loom.
Beaters
Beattie, May H. (1908-1997). May Beattie was a British scholar of oriental rugs with a focus on rug structure as a key to rug origins. She began her rug studies in Iraq. Subsequently, she wrote extensively about Persian rugs. Her research is preserved in the Beattie Archive of the Ashmolean Museum.
beat up. The tufts per inch in Axminster and chenille carpeting.
bed covers. See “blankets.”
Bedouin, Beduin. Nomadic Arabs inhabiting the deserts of North Africa and Arabia. They are sheep and camel herders. Bedouin weavings includes goat hair fabric for tents and wool dividing curtains, pillows, bags, animal trappings, and small articles. Designs consist mainly of stripes of geometric elements, diamonds, checks, and animal brands (wasm). Bright colors are characteristic. Ground looms are used to produce warp-faced plain weaves. Weft twining is used for decorative stripes and to strengthen edges. Some Bedouin men weave, but most weavers are women.
Behbehân. A town of southwestern Iran and a source of Luri rugs. Designs are hooked medallions in dark colors.
Behsud. A town west of Kabul in Afghanistan. The town is inhabited by Hazaras who weave coarse kilims, mainly with stripes. See “Hazara.”
Beijing, Peking. The earliest rug weaving in Beijing is thought to have begun in 1860. Regular factory rug production began in 1880. The period of heaviest production was between 1880 and 1920, after which Tientsin became the major production center.
Beijing rug Peter Pap Oriental Rugs Inc.
The best of the Beijing carpets imitated designs of older palace, court, and temple rugs. The more popular Beijing carpets had a blue field with designs and border in buff, white, or gold. Motifs included Buddhist and Taoist symbols, sometimes mixed in the same rug and used without regard for their meanings. Beijing rugs were usually woven with the asymmetric knot on warps without offset. There is contemporary rug production in Beijing. Cur rent knot densities range from 34 knots per square inch to 100 knots per square inch. See “China.”
Belgium. There is a large, contemporary production of power-loomed carpets in Belgium. Most of these are made in imitation of hand-knotted Near Eastern rug designs. From the thirteenth century, Flanders was famed for its tapestries and lace. See “Arras” and “Brussels.”
Bellini rugs. Anatolian prayer rugs of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These are rugs with a pointed mihrab and open field except for a distinctive indented or lobed quadrilateral medallion. The main border may be Kufesque. An inner border may have a reentrant octagon or “keyhole” at the bottom. This design is shown in rugs in paintings of northern Italy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The earliest representation of this prayer rug is in a painting in the National Gallery, London, by Gentile Bellini made in 1507. See “turret design.”
Bellini prayer rug
bells. Small bells may be attached to animal trappings. See “accessory objects” and “knee caps.”
Beloudge. See “Baluchi.”
Beluchi. See “Baluchi.”
Ben Adi. A town in Egypt producing naturally colored, tapestry-woven rugs in geometric designs.
Benares (modern Varanasi). An ancient city of north central India. The carpet center of this area is in the nearby city of Bhadohi. See “Bhadohi.”
Bengal. A region of east India including the city of Calcutta. Rug weaving began in the region in the late seventeenth century, but rug production from the area was never great. See “Calcutta.”
Benguiat, Vitall (1859-1937). A dealer and collector of rugs and textiles. Born in Izmir, Turkey, Vitall Benguiat moved from Europe to New York in 1898. Through his liaison with the American Art Association, Benguiat imported and auctioned some of the finest classical Turkish, Persian, Indian, and Mamluk oriental rugs.
Beni M’guild. A Berber tribe of the Middle Atlas region
