De Kuba Perepedil a Marmoucha

Kuba Perepedil or Pirpedil

The area of origin is north of Kuba. The Perepedil rugs have a unique ornamentation. On a background usually dark blue (rarely white or red), in a clear and conspicuous design aligned on the main axis, rest patterns like very arched ram’s horns, called  Wurma, they  alternate with Karagashli flowers surrounded by stylized birds arranged frontally square-like. . Moreover, starting from the side edges «swords»  protrude into the field horizontally, so much so that they are also called «Perepedil swords.» The rest of the field is usually densely covered with finely drawn ornaments.

Kuba Seichur or Zeikur

They come from the town of the same name located on the river Samur, near the Caspian Sea; they are rugs  knotted by a population that, according to legend, descended from the Mongols. One of the most important decoration is the cross of St. Andrew where each medallion, very articulated and structured to form a cross, has in the center a cross-shaped pattern, the Seikhur little rose, and from it depart, in diagonal, four arms that liaise with other staggered  medallions of a hypothetical next row, so as to give the impression of a design cut from a continuous modular composition.

Kum chinese in silk

They are inspired, if not copied, by the Persian Kum with wefts, warp and fleece in silk. Obviously they are brand new, but unlike the original Kum, which very often have a rigid structure, they are very soft. This means that over time the silk becomes less brittle and therefore it is much more difficult to cut it; a defect that which is found in many rugs with structure in silk of Iranian and Turkish production.

Kum, Qum, Qom, rugs in Kork wool or all in silk

The city of Qum, the center of pilgrimage for Shiite Muslims, is located 150 km south of Tehran. Here the rugs are knotted with vertical looms, mainly in private homes in the city. Warp and weft are made of cotton, not infrequently in silk. The fleece is very often thick wool often mixed with silk to create  details of significant effect in the rug with one of the finest workmanship and a density of knots to dmq 4/5000 and more in the specimens made of silk. The first looms were built in Qum in 1930, on the initiative of some merchants from Kashan and grew quite rapidly thanks to the refined technical execution of the specimens and the variety of subjects, to the point that now they are part of the most important Persian rugs. The Qum recall not only Isfahan’s floral designs, Kashan, the garden drawings of Bakhtiyar but also the boteh and zil-i-Sultan motifs, the classic theme of these rugs, with a wide variety of colours.

Kurdistan

The ethnic Kurds are scattered in an area of 450,000 square kilometers, spanning Syria, Iran, Turkey and Iraq. The rugs the Kurds  produce are therefore  from the most tribal rugs for everyday use, kilim Gabbeh, all kind of pockets,  etc., to the finest ever, as our magnificent specimen of very rare Senneh seven colours.

Larghabi

Kilims of Afghan origin weaved by the Hazara or Azari

Lazy lines

English term given to the diagonal lines corresponding to returns of weft  noticed on the wrong side of some antique Turkish rugs such as Ushak.

Lenkoran Kazak

On the shores of the Caspian Sea, in the region of southern Talish, there  is Lenkoran. They are rugs which look a bit austere, which were knotted with fine, light  wool, as the Talish. They are characterized by the classic crab medallions and the presence of compositions across the board arranged one above the other. The background is divided into areas that fill the field, which in turn are chromatically divided into  halves and that in the overlap of the second composition scheme, quadripartite lozenges arranged in a chain one above the other, they form triangles. The main border, very interesting, is usually surrounded by two Medacyl edges with a clever use of colour and refined combinations

Liccio

It is part of the loom and serves to alternately raise and lower the number of warps, in order to insert the wefts.

Lilian rugs

They are the work of weavers whose ancestors, of Armenian origin, were deported from the Caucasus in the seventeenth century in the area of Sultanabad, but surprisingly the designs, grandiose and floral and quite similar to the American period Sarouk also in the colour, and many that are not in the rug sector get confused, do not give the slightest hint about their origin. They are characterized by bright colours and for the great quantity of flowers and leaves that gather to form fan-like designs.

Line

English term used as a measure of knotting for modern Chinese rugs. Line corresponds to a pair of chains warp, that is, to a knot and is preceded by a number, 60,70, 90, 120, thus indicating how many pairs of chains, and thus knots, that there are in a foot, English measuring units corresponding to cm. 30.48.

Loom of rug

It is the means by which they weave rugs, both with fleece and flat weave. It consists of two longitudinal axes and two transversal ones; the latter, upper and lower, are said beams and to these are fixed  the warp chains. Another element of the frame are the heddles (see) that facilitate the insertion of the wefts. In principle, we have two types of looms: the vertical one and the horizontal one. The horizontal loom is suitable for a quick assembly and disassembly and easy transportation; it is, therefore, typical of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes but it does not allow them to manufacture large rugs. The vertical loom is used by weavers with a permanent residence and in manufacturing; suitably constructed, with movable or rotating beams, it also allows the production of very long rugs.

Mafrash, Mafraj, Mafresh

Parallelepiped container approximately 50x50x100 cm with facades made of kilim and Soumak decorated with geometric motifs and background in kilim decorated with bands. Some designs are very beautiful and finely crafted.

Magreb kilim

Trade name of kilims that have been woven for fifteen years from Iran to Pakistan. They typically use the dovetail technique and have no real and proper drawing, but are striped multicoloured with a rustic effect.

Mahal rugs

They come from the area of Mushkabad, region located in the center of Iran. Most of the plan has a central medallion with floral subjects similar to Saruk rugs. They are rugs with a cotton structure that do not have high density of knots, but they are somewhat soft because knotted with excellent quality wool.

Maimana kilim or Maymana

Capital of Faryab in Afganistan, Maimana is a center where they produce tribal  kilims, sometimes with austere colours and detached textures. The Maymana Kilims are recognize by the deep red, orange, blue and brown rust colours. Even today they are woven with local wool.

Malatya kilim

Small town in southwestern Turkey where knotted and kilim rugs come from and  where are also traded rugs from Yörük and Kurd ones.

Malayer, Mishan Malayer and Mir

At about 80 km south of Hamadan, between Kurdistan and Luristan, there is the city of Malayer, commercial center of the surrounding villages. To the north are produced rugs with the classical «Herati» decoration of Kurdish influence. To the south are produced Medallion rugs of Persian inspiration, sometimes with a very fine knot. These include Mishan where rugs are woven with geometrical  designs and stylized floral, but mostly it is famous for particularly fine Mishan Malayer rug-. The finest specimens have the features of the old-Saruk Farahan, or Feraghan. The subjects that are found there include simple human figures,  Boteh, Herati motifs and stylized floral motifs.

Mamad

Felt rug decorated with very simple embroidery, typical of Turkmen, Uzbeks and of the populations in Central Asia, including Pakistan and India, where it is called Namda.

Mamelucco, rugs in the Woven Legends Collection

Examples of recent manufacture, with very well made subject and colour, reproductions of antique Mamluk rugs knotted in Cairo between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.

Manchester Kashan

Trade name of the rugs weaved in the area of Arak on behalf of Ziegler and Co. of Manchester, from the end of ‘900 until the last war. The company Ziegler and Co. provided the wool and drawings to the weavers, in the form of Vaghireh. Excellent the productions of antique Kashan Manchester.

Marmoucha rugs

This tribal artifacts of the Berber people of the Marmoucha region, in the Middle Atlas of Morocco, are characterized by colour and lozenges iconography similar to the more popular Beni OURAIN with some substantial differences: the knot is symmetrical (and not Berber as in Beni OURAIN) and finer; it follows that there is a fleece very often lower and a greater design definition. There is also the presence of colour in the background or the knotting of the symbols that differentiates them from the classic white / black Beni OURAIN.