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Why are Kaitag embroideries so finely worked when their designs are so bold and graphic?

Textile designs made up of sinuous, curving forms are usually attributable to the influence of other media – painting, sculpture and metalwork. Weavers tend to design forms that lend themselves to the vertical-horizontal structure and technique of warp and weft, unless they are motivated to copy or adapt a design from another art form. Among textiles, embroideries lend themselves most readily to curvilinear design since the fine-scale needlework technique is independent of the rectilinear structure of weaving. Suzanis and Kashmir shawls with their circles, scallops, and botehs illustrate this quite well. They depend ultimately on the design repertory of Islamic minor arts and architectural ornament. Kaitag embroideries from the Caucasus, however, are a special case in point because they reflect another textile technique independent of weaving, that of felt appliqué. Typical Kaitag designs like the one shown here have losanges filled by voluted cross forms, or linked chains of small voluted fleur-de-lis. They are immediately comparable to Uzbek and other Central Asian nomadic felts, whose curvilinear designs are made up by cutting out appliqués and sewing them onto a ground in a different color. While felt is a form of textile, it is carded, mashed, and pressed, and the appliqué process is completed with sewing. So felt production actually stands apart from weaving proper. It is therefore rather interesting that Kaitag embroiderers seem to have been attracted particularly by the designs of felt appliqué. The immediate models they depended on were almost certainly local Dagestan felts from the eastern Caucasus. These were closely related to the Central Asian felts and were probably introduced into the Caucasus by felt-producing nomadic tribes from beyond Iran. What is so striking about Kaitag embroideries is their boldness. Despite the use of some fine detail in edges or outlines, they tend to preserve a large scale and a strong graphic contrast that are the antithesis of the fine technique of embroidery. To use so many little stitches to make up such a big design is simply mind-boggling. Kaitag embroideries exemplify so well how far an artist is willing to go in adapting his or her technique to a model or inspiration from another medium.

View this rug here: Kaitag Example

by David Castriota

Popularity: 5% [?]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Gabbehs were not originally produced for the retail market. I was introduced to Gabbehs about twenty years ago, when Jason Nazmiyal exhibited his collection in Millburn, N.J. It was the first time that Gabbehs would be presented in the United States. George Bornet, leading expert on Gabbehs, introduced the collection. Because they became a favorite of mine, I have included them in my own personal collection.
Different from other antique rugs they were not influenced by commercial demand. These works of art were not created to order, but to fulfill the weaver’s own artistic endeavors, and for their own personal use.

by Joan Guryan

Popularity: 5% [?]

Design patterns found in Caucasian Rugs:

Flower patterns do not play an essential role in Caucasian rugs. Usually the design patterns in Caucasians are geometric, often without symmetry. If flowers designs are present, they will generally found in the border, or used to complement a geometric pattern. They will not be a dominant factor as they are in many Persian, or Indian rugs.

by Joan Guryan

Popularity: 5% [?]

What make’s Khotans so interesting!

Recently, I have become interested in Khotan rugs. They reflect the political history of the area. You can see the influence of several cultures, among them Chinese, Turkey and Iran.

You might see pomegranates, the East Iranian influence, rosettes giving it a turkish feeling, and finally lattice work, which is typically Chinese. It is amazing when you look at one of these Khotan rugs; it is a fusion of cultures.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Though Kashan is now removed from the commercial trade routed of Persia, it used to be the largest city in the northwest, and virtually all traffic between Esfahan and the east passed through it. Because of this important location Kashan became the popular stop on a bustling trade route during the Safevid Era. In modern times, nearby mountain ranges prohibit trucks from traveling the route that caravans had so often ventured. During this era in which carpet weaving flourished in Persia, Kashan developed a reputation as one of the finest weaving centers of the east.Most books on Kashan, its history, its art and its artists, its architecture, ceramics, glass, metals, and its textile art and industry, mention a large number of masters and artists, but with regards to carpets, master weavers and laboratories there are only a few references. Signed carpets, for this reason, also become a key instrument of research. By analyzing the structure and decoration, it becomes possible to establish the characteristics of a specific production type. Once this has been identified, other non-signed pieces can be attributed with certainty. It is using this method that many carpets can be attributed to Mohtasham.

by David Castriota

Popularity: 4% [?]

My introduction to Antique Rugs.
Let me introduce myself. I am Joan Guryan, and I fell passionately in love with Antique Rugs twenty years ago, when I was decorating my first home. That was when I met Jason Nazmiyal, who sold me my first rug. We had a simpatico of taste; he articulated my thoughts as only an expert could. He nurtured my interest by sharing his knowledge. I began to look at rugs with a more educated eye. But more than the knowledge of where it was made, or how; why one area used one type of fiber, or used one type of knots, my fascination was in the design and the colors, the story it told.

The first rug I bought was a Caucasian, to be specific it was a Shirvan, and very unusual for it’s size. With its stick figures, both human and animal, and its other geometric shapes, I could imagine the story it was telling. Like art, we often are unaware of the artist’s thoughts, but we have made a connection, which somehow connects us to another human’s life; thus making the world a little smaller.

It is 20 years later, I have bought many rugs since, the first is still in my living room, and I have never tired of looking at it. I have continued to by my rugs as if they were pieces of art; which is probably why they are such a source of satisfaction.

Popularity: 6% [?]