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      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 of Morocco. The weavers of this tribe generally use the symmetric knot, though they have sometimes used the asymmetric knot. Designs are repeated geometric elements. Rugs are often without side borders. The tribe produces flatwoven blankets, curtains, shawls, saddle bags, and cushion covers.

      Beni M’guild rug Lloyd Rowcroft

      Beni M’tir. A Berber tribe of the Middle Atlas region of Morocco. Their rugs are borderless and designs consist of repeated geometric elements. Weavers of this tribe use the asymmetric knot.

      Berber knot. A rug knot used in Berber tribal weavings of the Middle Atlas region of Morocco. The Berber knot encircles two warps twice. On the front of the rug, tufts emerge in diagonal opposing directions from under a diagonal loop of the knot. The Berber knot may be offset one warp in either direction. It may also be used in combination with the symmetric knot tied on four warps. The amount of yarn used in the Berber knot is greater than that used in either the symmetric or asymmetric knots. The Berber knot is more durable than the asymmetric or symmetric knot.

      Berber knot

      Berber rugs. See “Morocco.”

      berde (Greek). A flatwoven doorway hanging of northern Greece woven in three panels and stitched together.

      berdelik. Textiles, including rugs, used as wall hangings. See “laicerul.”

      Bergama, Bergamo, Pergamum (Latin). A city of northwestern Anatolia (ancient Pergamum), near the Aegean Sea, with a long tradition of rug weaving. Fifteenth-century rugs have been attributed to Bergama. A wide variety of designs are identified as Bergama. The term is sometimes applied to western Anatolian rugs of indefinite origin. Some Transylvanian rugs of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are thought to derive from Bergama. Contemporary Bergama rugs have designs that suggest Caucasian types or are all-over geometricized floral patterns. Rugs of the Yağçibedir tribe are woven in the region and the nearby towns of Yuntdağ and Kozak are known for their rugs. Kilims from this area usually have geometric designs suggesting those of the Seljuk period.

      Bergama rug James Allen

      beshek, beşik (Turk.). Bedding bag. See “mafrash.”

      Beshir, Beshire. A town on the Amu Darya river in west Turkes tan. Rugs made in the area of Bokhara and along the Amu Darya into northern Afghanistan are often described as Beshir. Most of these rugs are thought to be woven by Ersari Turkmen. This general attribution is disputed by some scholars.

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