Smyrna Carpet
The Smyrna Carpet , also known as Smyrna for short , is named after the formerly Greek city of Smyrna on the Gulf of Izmir .
The city, later renamed Izmir and now part of Turkey, was an important trading point for carpets in the 19th century . It is a collective name for the knotted carpets from Uschak, Giordes (Ghördes) and Kula and has established itself in Europe for hand-made velor carpets, as well as for the machine-woven carpets that imitated this oriental pattern. Smyrna carpet became a name for a woven chenille Axminster carpet or chenille Axminster carpet, which is also known as patent myrna. The look of the construction comes very close to a real, hand-knotted Smyrna rug.
In 1905, Wilhelm Bode wrote about it in his book "Vorderasiatische Knüpfteppiche von Olderzeit":
“The so-called Smyrna carpets are characterized by coarse wool , the loose weave, the high sheared and the mild color effect, which distinguishes them from all older carpets from the Orient. Also quite unusual is the fact that these do not have the rather elongated format, but rather approach the square. Since both in Holland and in England Smyrna carpets are mainly found in houses from the 18th century, which are precisely tailored for the rooms in which they are located, there is no doubt that such pieces were made to order. Furthermore, since the patterns are not peculiar, but rather various older Asian types are reproduced, which have been repeated in slight changes in addition to a simple scattered flower motif since the 17th century, it is reasonable to assume that this industry in or near Smyrna is derived from the flourishing European, predominantly Dutch colony came into being and operated with Asian workers on European orders. This explains their widespread use in Europe, especially in Holland and England, the long flowering of the same and the adherence to the old traditions, on the other hand also the connection to the Smyrna carpets with the establishment of the modern carpet industry in Europe. "
Smyrna carpets are made of wool and are knotted with the Turkish or Persian knot . The typical knot density is around 500–800 knots per dm².
Mechanical Smyrna carpets
The oriental carpets, namely the knotted Smyrna carpets, are being imitated with great success in Europe, especially in Germany (Schmiedeberg since 1856, Cottbus , Wurzen , Springe , Linden etc.) and Vienna , using the same method. But one works with a warp made of linen yarn and a basic weft made of jute , achieves a great technical perfection and also knows how to reproduce the patterns and colors so faithfully that there is no longer a big difference between real and imitation Smyrna carpets.
Cottbus developed into a center of the cloth industry as well as an important place for carpet manufacture. Theodor Kühn founded his company in Cottbus in 1861. In 1865 90 employees produced a total of 80 “Persian carpets” and 1,200 blanket fabrics for 25 chairs. In 1873 Otto Pietsch took over the factory. In 1894 this became part of the Vereinigte Smyrna-Teppich Fabriken AG , which was created through the takeover of Pietsch and the companies Gevers & Schmidt in Schmiedeberg and Dehmann, Spoerer & Friedrichs in Hannover-Linden. Mechanical Smyrna carpets, rugs, double carpets and Tournay carpets were made . The seat was in Berlin until 1913, then in Cottbus. In 1947, the United Smyrna-Teppich Fabriken AG was relocated to Hanover, from 1951 it was a GmbH, from 1959 it was called Kronen-Teppich-Fabrik GmbH.
In 1956 Vorwerk acquired the combined Smyrna carpet works and built a large production site in Gehrden near Hanover, which was in operation until 1985.
The German knotted carpet industry emerged around the middle of the 19th century as a new line of business for the poor population of the Giant Mountains. The owner of the Görlitz cloth factory Gevers & Schmidt had a number of weavers in the Orient learn the technique of knotting. The manufacture of knotted carpets began in Lähne in 1854 and in Schmiedeberg in the Giant Mountains from 1857. The Schmiedeberger carpets soon achieved world renown.
The Berliner Tageblatt , first supplement of November 15, 1887, writes: “German industry in Japan. As we have been written from Kottbus, a throne room carpet intended for the Emperor of Japan was shown there on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning in the O. Prietsch carpet factory. The well-known Heymann company in Hamburg had been in negotiation with Japan for four years until it was finally awarded the contract to equip 98 rooms of the Japanese emperor - each one a building in itself - for a lump sum of 1.75 million marks. The Heymann company initially hesitated whether they should transfer the production of the six Smyrna carpets (named after the Turkish city of Smyrna) envisaged for the throne room, the antichambre, the salon, boudoir and reception room to a Paris company. But then she decided to manufacture domestically and chose the Prietsch factory, which had been cultivating the area of oriental carpet manufacture especially and exclusively in Germany since 1874. "
Cottbus carpets were exported all over the world, the Foreign Trade Ministry in New York and a salon train in the Orient were equipped with them, among other things. In addition, carpets based on Hans Schnithal's designs were woven in Cottbus in the United Smyrna carpet factories.
swell
- Lexicon room furnishings
- Wilhelm Bode, Near Eastern knotted carpets from earlier times, Klinkhart & Biermann publishing house in Leipzig, 2nd edition 1914, page 111
- Meyers Konversationslexikon Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna, fourth edition, 1885–1892
- Homeland Association Cottbus
- 125 years of Vorwerk
- Lausitzer Rundschau from July 18, 2007
- Carpet factory Theodor Kühn
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://retrobibliothek.de
- ↑ Tournay Carpet: Named after the Belgian city of Tournai, where many carpet factories are based.
- ↑ www.cottbusgeschichte.shstahr.de ( Memento of the original from February 22nd, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ www.lr-online.de
