consisted of motifs drawn from Roman, Pompiian, and Etruscan work. Ovals, octagons, fans, wreaths, garlands, and medallion shapes were common features of their decoration. Rugs were made to the designs of the Adam brothers in Moorfields, England. Often these rug designs reflected the paneled relief ceilings of the rooms in which the rugs were to be used. Colors were gray, light blue, and jasper. See “Moorfields.”
Adana. A town of south central Anatolia, and a source of multi-panel kilims. Adana is a trading center for rugs. See “Turkey.”
Adana kilim Simon Knight
Adıyaman. A city of eastern Anatolia and a source of tülüs and Kurdish rugs. See “Turkey.”
Adler Kazak. See “Chelaberd.”
Admiral carpets. Carpets of fifteenth-century Spain with armori al bearings of the hereditary admiral of Castile. Many of these carpets bear the arms of the Enriquez family. The field is a lattice of octagons containing geometricized blossoms, with a few containing geometricized birds or animals. Heraldic shields are arranged on this field. These rugs are all wool with the Spanish knot. See “Spain” and “Williams Admiral Carpet.”
Adraskand. A town of western Afghanistan, south of Herat, in a district that is a source for kilims and pile rugs woven by Pashtun and Baluchi peoples. See “Afghanistan.”
Afghan. A trade term for certain Turkmen carpets of the Ersari tribe. These are main carpets, coarsely woven, with the gulli gul design and are about 8 feet by 10 feet. Also, a woven or knitted coverlet (general usage). A native of Afghanistan. See “Ersari.”
Afghanistan. A country of Central Asia bordered by Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, and Pakistan. About 75 percent of the population is Sunni Muslim. Rugs are woven by native Afghans (Pashtun) and by Turkmen tribes, most of whom migrated to Afghanistan in the 1920s. These tribes include Ersari, Tekke, Yomud, and Sariq. There is some rug production from Baluchi and Uzbek peoples in Afghanistan. Pile rug production consists largely of pieces with traditional Turkmen guls and geometric designs in shades of red. A wide variety of flatweaves is produced along with bags, animal trappings, and other special-function tribal weavings.
Rug export from Afghanistan increased in the 1970s with the large-scale production of lower-quality rugs. Afghani stan carpets that are single-wefted and without offset warps may be termed yaktâr and those that are double-wefted with offset warps may be termed dotâr. Soviet Russian troops occupied Afghanistan in December of 1979 in support of a communist régime. Armed resistance to the occupying forces and to the civil government involved much of the rural population. Soviet troops withdrew in February of 1989 and the communist régime was defeated in May of 1992. Warfare resumed in 2002 with the United States incursion into Afghanistan. Rug production, marketing, and distribution were disrupted by warfare. Most descriptions of rug production and marketing centers refer to conditions in prewar Aghanistan. See “Afghanistan war rugs.”
Afghanistan
There are entries under the following Afghanistan geographic names:
| Adraskand | Kabul |
| Alti Bolaq | Khairabad |
| Andkhoy | Kunduz |
| Aq Chah | Labijar |
| Babaseqal | Laghari |
| Balkh | Lokari |
| Barmazid | Maimana |
| Behsud | Maurchaq |
| Chakhansur | Qaisar |
| Charshango | Qala-i Nau |
| Chichaktu | Qala-i Zal |
| Daulatabad | Qarqin |
| Ghorian | Samangân |
| Ghormaj | Sar-e Pol |
| Herat | Sharkh |
| Jengal Arjuk | Shebergân |
Afghanistan war rugs. Beginning with Baluchi weavers in Herat, rugs were woven with weapons and war imagery shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The earliest of these rugs showed a few weapons within traditional fields and borders. In later rugs, war imagery displaced most traditional motifs in the field. Finally, in the latest rugs, both traditional field and border motifs were displaced completely by war imagery. See “Baluchi.”
Kabul Khairabad Kunduz Labijar Laghari Lokari Maimana Maurchaq Qaisar Qala-i Nau Qala-i Zal Qarqin Samangân Sar-e Pol Sharkh Shebergân
Afghanistan war rug (detail) Smithsonian
afshan, avshan (Persian afshân, “scattered”). An all-over design found in Caucasian, Indian, Persian, and Turkish rugs. It consists of stylized, right-angle blossom cups or calyxes on a stem surrounded by florets.
Afshan motifs
Kuba rug with afshan motif Hagop Manoyan
Afshar, Avşar. A Turkic tribe (called “Turkmen” in earlier histories) with scattered groups in Turkey, the Caucasus, and Iran. The largest group is located in Iran south of Kerman. There are both nomadic and village pieces produced by the tribe. Structural characteristics of their pile weaves include primarily wool foundation with pink or orange wefts and warp offset. Twentieth-century Afshar rugs may have a cotton foundation. Rugs of the Afshars are squarish with increasingly geometricized designs in later rugs. There is great variation in rug design, but one of the most common is a floral central medallion with floral spandrels and an opposing vase of flowers at the top and bottom of the rug. Afshars produce flatweaves in slit tapestry, soumak, weft substitution, and double interlocking weft structures. See “DaHaj,” “rakhat,” and “Sirjân.”
Afshar rug John Collins
aft rang. See “haft rang.”
Afyon (Turk., “opium”). A town of central Anatolia now referred to as Karahisar. It is a source of rugs similar to those of Konya. See “Karahisar.”
age in rugs. See “dating rugs.”
agedyna (Swedish). A Flemish type weaving. A flatwoven, long cushion used in carriages and sleighs and on short benches. See “rölaken.”
Agedyna Peter Willborg
Agra.
