An Elderly Kazak

[Paul McGhee Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Paul McGhee]

I thought you might like this old Kazak that I found on a car boot sale at the weekend. It's currently in intensive care!

I bought it because it struck me as the kind of rug that Volkmar Gantzhorn would have liked and I vaguely remembered some discussion a while ago about old Chajli rugs. Do you think it one of those, or something else?

It's 4ft 3 x 8ft. All wool. Bright blue triple shotwool wefts. Flat structure. More details to follow if you think it's interesting enough.

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

Hi Paul,

Nice find.
I'd ask around here for a "car boot sale", but I'd probably get some funny looks.

The rug looks to me to be Kurdish from SE Anatolia. Here are some others of the sort.

With that border:





and a version of the stacked octagons in the field:



Another geographic possibility is the Kurdish enclave in central Anatolia, around Cihanbeyli. They are very hard to distinguish from the ones woven in the Gaziantep/Adiyaman/Malatya/Elazig region, probably because they are also mostly woven by Reshwan Kurds. Here's one:


For lots more examples of Kurdish rugs from east Anatolia, take a look back at this Salon: http://www.turkotek.com/salon_00127/salon.html

Could you post a close-up of the back and sides?

Joel Greifinger

[Michael Lubin]

Hello friends who know me from FB groups. My first post is: I think the examples from Gazientep and nearby have blue weft. Those from Chihanbeyli likely use red wefts or pink as is common in that area.

[Paul McGhee Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Paul McGhee]

Thanks Joel, here are some details of the back (with knots and where there are just wefts left) selvage and the natty interlace end finish.



Paul

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

Hi Paul,

Varieties of interlaced end finishes are common on East Anatolian Kurdish rugs:





Joel

[Paul McGhee Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Paul McGhee]

I have a very old Kurdish kilim with an oblique interlace end finish and I think it looks particularly cool when they used different coloured warps.

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

Paul,

Here is another woven by Rashwan Kurds that’s related to your rug:



Joel

[Paul McGhee Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Paul McGhee]

That's a great match! Thanks!

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

I think the examples from Gazientep and nearby have blue weft. Those from Chihanbeyli likely use red wefts or pink as is common in that area.

Hi Michael,

I took a look at the weft color on a bunch of my SE Anatolian Kurdish rugs and they were all blue except the one rug that I have generally thought to be from Cihanbeyli. Not exactly a well-designed piece of rigorous research, but it seems like a useful starting point.

Here's that one:




A few years back in "The Weftkickers" group on Facebook, there was an unusually long and interesting discussion about trying to distinguish the Kurdish (probably Reshwan) pile weaving of Cihanbeyli from their Reshwan cousins in the Gaziantep/Sivas/Elazig/Malatya area. It featured some very well-informed comments by Denis Coskun and Mete Mutlu among others: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1701...67338036826990

Joel