LITMIR.BIZ

      Amritsar rug Jason Nazmiyal

      AMTORG. Acronym for American Trading Organization, an export-import company representing Soviet Russian interests in the United States. The company was active from about 1926 to 1937, exporting commodities to the United States and importing machinery to Russia. From 1926 to about 1930, AMTORG exported old Caucasian and Turkmen rugs to the U.S. After 1931, it exported five-year plan rugs to the U.S. See “five-year plan rugs.”

      Amu Darya. A river (the ancient Oxus) near the northern boundary of Afghanistan and the southern boundary of Turkmenistan. Several different Turkmen tribes live along this river. These include the Ersari, Salor, Saryk, and Tekke.

      amulet. See “muska.”

      analysis. See “technical analysis” and “dye analysis.”

      Anatolia. A peninsula between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea constituting Asiatic Turkey or Asia Minor. The rug-weaving population includes Turkmen, Yörük, and Kurdish peoples. Armenian and Greek peoples in Anatolia also wove rugs. Anatolian rugs are the products of workshops such as those of Ushak, Kayseri, and Bandirma, of nomadic Kurds and Yörük, and of thousands of villages scattered through Anatolia. The foundation and pile are wool with very few exceptions. Warps are undyed and 2-ply “S” twist; wefts are unplied. The symmetric knot is used consistently. Except in a few rugs of central and east Anatolia, there is no warp offset. Pile rug weaving is an ancient craft of Anatolia. There are fragments of thirteenth-century rugs woven during the Seljuk period. See “Turkey.”

      andhani. A camel’s head covering of Pakistan.

      Andhra Pradesh. A province of southern India (capital, Hyderabad) and the location of several weaving centers. See “Ellore,” “India,” “Masulipatam,” and “Warangal.”

      Andkhoy. A town of north central Afghanistan near the Turkmen border. The town is a collecting point and market for rugs made in the area, primarily woven by Ersaris. Most of these rugs are based on Turkmen designs in shades of red, indigo, and white. The asymmetric knot is used. Usually, these rugs are double-wefted. Typical rug sizes are about 5 feet by 6 feet and 9 feet by 12 feet.

      angle of twist. A measure of the tightness to which yarn is twisted in spinning. The angle between the longitudinal axis of the yarn and the plane of the fibers in a single or the plane of the last ply in plied or cabled yarns. The direction of spin is taken into account when measuring this angle. A twist angle of about 5 degrees is a soft-spun yarn; 20 degrees is a medium-spun yarn; and 30 to 45 degrees is a hard-spun yarn. Crêpe spun yarns crinkle and have an angle of twist of 65 degrees or more. See “twist.”

      Angle of twist

      Angora goat

      Angora goat. A goat of Turkish origin and the source of mohair, a long, coarse, and lustrous fiber. See “mohair.”

      Anhalt Medallion Carpet. A sixteenth-century carpet of northwest Persia. It formerly belonged to the Dukes of Anhalt of Dessau and is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This carpet is in excellent condition. It has a circular lobed medallion with pendants on a yellow field of arabesques with leaves, blossoms, and palmettes. Among the arabesques are peacocks with plumage displayed. It has a knot density of 400 asymmetric knots per square inch. The warp is cotton and the weft is silk. The size of this rug is 26 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 7 inches.

      aniline dyes. Direct dyes derived from aniline, which is in turn a derivative of coal tar. The first such dye, mauve, was invented by Perkin in 1856. By 1870, aniline dyes were inexpensive and widely used. Some of the aniline dyes used in rugs were not colorfast. See “acid dyes,” “basic dyes,” and “synthetic dyes.”

      animal carpet. Any carpet design including animal motifs. More particularly, Persian and Indo-Persian rugs with representations of a variety of animals in the field of the rug. See “Animal Carpet of Leopold I,” “animal motifs,” “hunting carpets,” “Sackville Mughal Animal and Tree Carpet,” and “Widener Animal Carpet.”

      Animal carpet (detail)

      Animal Carpets of Leopold I, Emperor. A pair of late sixteenth-century Persian carpets given to the Austrian Emperor Leopold I by Peter the Great of Russia. The field is red and filled with animals in combat, cloud bands, blossoms, and palmettes. The inner minor border contains lines from a poem. The knot density is 320 asymmetric knots per square inch. Warps are cotton and wefts are silk. The size of the rugs is 11 feet 6 inches by 24 feet 4 inches. One rug is in Vienna and the other is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

      animal head motif, animal head column. A motif also known as “latch hooks” consisting of a triangle offset on a column. The animal head sometimes possesses an eye. A short line may trail from the point of the triangle. This motif may be repeated in rows or columns and as a border or medallion outline. This motif is common in tribal and Turkic weavings.

      Animal head motif and columns

      animal motifs. A very wide range of animals has been used in oriental rug designs. Animals have been represented naturalistically, as in the Persian hunting carpets. Through progressive stylization and abstraction, they have been represented as geometric symbols, as in Turkmen rugs. Even extinct animals may be represented. The aurochs, an extinct ox, is thought to be represented in certain ancient designs in Anatolian kilims. Domesticated animals are common in the weavings of nomadic peoples. These include goats, horses, camels, and roosters. The tiger is often represented

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