Heris (carpet)
The Heris , also called Bagschaich or, mostly in English literature, Gorewan , is a carpet that is knotted in and around the eponymous city of Heris in the northwestern Bagschaich area ( province of East Azerbaijan ) . Carpets have been made in the Heris area since the beginning of the 19th century.
Heris carpets are extremely hard-wearing and are known for their high wool quality, wear resistance and durability. They are mostly used to line hallways and dining rooms. They regularly appear as generously patterned carpets and bridges in small to medium-sized formats. Old Heris types have elongated Kellei formats that feel rather thin due to their non-layered warp threads. Higher qualities are so tightly knotted by alternately layered warp threads that their structure resembles the dense and firm Kurdish Bidschar carpets. Younger Heris carpets are often almost square and mostly deep-pile . The two-dimensional patterns are kept in soft, plant-based colors. In the center there is usually a large, rectilinear medallion with accentuated corners. Pattern repeats with generous, geometric floral ornaments also occur. The ground is kept in dark brick to bright light red, occasionally white, rarely blue; the white corners contrast strongly. The sample parts are kept in bright colors.
Heris carpets were previously knotted on wool, and since the beginning of the 20th century on a cotton base fabric with mostly double weft threads and a knot density between 80,000 and 160,000 knots per square meter . Traditionally, symmetrical (“Turkish”) knots are tied.
history
Under three rulers of the Persian Qajar dynasty, namely Fath Ali Shah , Nāser ad-Din Shah and Mozaffar ad-Din Shah , old traditions of the Persian monarchy were revived, including carpet knotting. From around 1885, carpet weavers from Tabriz , which is about 60 km from Heris, expanded their manufacturing operations and founded modern Persian carpet weaving. At the same time, carpets were exported to Europe in large numbers. The European market dictated the design forms. On the one hand, the carpet formats should be made wider and shorter, on the other hand they should have the classic "Lechek Torūnj" pattern (medallion-and-corners), which was common in Tabriz at the time. A. Cecil Edwards , author of a classic monograph on the Persian carpet, assumes that knotters in Tabriz commissioned the manufacture of such carpets in the villages of the Heris area. The Heris knotters adopted the format and pattern, but retained their knotting and patterning traditions. Since a weave with symmetrical knots is more suitable for rectilinear patterns, the classic curvilinear pattern of the Tabriz carpets changed to the Heris patterns known today.
Historical knotting regions in the Heris area
Edwards identified three regions in the Heris area whose historical production differed in weave, patterns and colors:
- Karajah : Carpets from this region usually have a trowel or long format , approx. 150–200 × 300–600 cm. The base is woven in one piece, the pile is very dense. The patterns are the same in all the villages in the Karaja region. The basic color of the field was madder red , the borders are in dark indigo blue . In the field there are usually three to five stars, the middle one dark blue, the others creamy white or dark green. In the middle of the 20th century, around 800 carpets were knotted per year in the Karaja region.
- Heris District : These include the places Heris, Mehriban, Bakshaisch, Asleh, Sarai, and Sainsarai. With the exception of the specimens from Bilverdi, the bottom of the carpets knotted in the closer Heris area was always two-ply woven. This is where carpets with the "classic" medallion pattern were created. Edwards assumes that a total of half a million carpets were knotted in the immediate vicinity of the city of Heris in the first half of the 19th century. In contrast to other regions, the weavers in the Heris area did not use scaled preliminary drawings of the carpet samples on paper ("cardboard boxes"), but rather small strips of fabric printed with patterns, from which they could produce a carpet on any scale. Originally, the weavers in Heris used wool from the Shahsavan nomads, which due to its high quality also made the carpets durable. In the middle of the 20th century, low-quality wool was bought in due to the high demand, which, when dyed with synthetic colors that were not very lightfast, led to a deterioration in the quality of the carpets.
- Sarāb district : Here, too, mainly kellei or runner formats were knotted. In the eastern part of the district, runners of lower quality were produced, most of which were sold in the town of Ardabil . The better qualities originated in the area around the city of Sarāb itself and were named after it as "Serapi" carpets. The base fabric is tight and dense with alternately layered warp threads. The background of the carpet is mostly camel brown, the typical diamond-shaped medallions in copper-red shades. In 1948, carpet-making in Sarāb had largely come to a standstill.
Today, old Heris carpets are often referred to as “Serapi” in the trade, even if they do not have any of the typical characteristics of the Sarāb district. Authentic Serapi carpets are significantly more expensive than other carpets from the Heris region.
Modern production
In today's production, the following origins are distinguished: Heris-Ahar , Heris-Gorawan , Heris-Mehrawan and Heris-Yorgaghan . Among these, the “Mehrawan” and “Ahar” carpets are the most closely knotted. Carpets with a more curvilinear medallion are also known as "Ahar". The modern terms describe differences in quality rather than the exact place of manufacture. Since the 1990s, more and more natural colors have been used again.
literature
- SAMilhofer, Orient-Teppiche, Fackelträger-Verlag 1966 - Schmidt-Küster GmbH, without ISBN
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d A. Cecil Edwards: The Persian Carpet . Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd, London 1953, p. 61-86 .
- ↑ Everything about the carpet de. (Heris)
- ↑ a b c Murray L. Eiland Jr., Muray Eiland III: Oriental Rugs - A Complete Guide . Callmann & King Ltd., London 1998, ISBN 0-8212-2548-0 , pp. 90-93 .