Kurdish rugs as a variant or subset of other types rather than an autonomous, distinctive genre in its own right. To some extent this is justified. Kurdish populations have and remain widely distributed across the Middle East from Anatolia into Iran. While they have their own Iranian related language, their culture tends to acquire a local quality depending on where they live. So it is not surprising that the Kurdish rugs of Anatolia have designs and techniques that look Turkish (690 and 2433), just as those in the Eastern Anatolia and Transcaucasus regions made rugs that looked Caucasian (2793and 3175), while those in Iran made Persian looking rugs (40485 and 2918). But the rugs produced by Kurds in all these regions all have a special set of qualities that link them to one another and distinguish them from the larger context in which they were made. These qualities are consistent and clearly discernible, and it is this that sets them apart as Kurdish weavings. Perhaps the most significant feature of Kurdish weaving is its commitment to color. While a taste for rich color is by no means the private preserve of Kurdish weaving, it is difficult to find a Kurdish rug that does not have it. A varied and saturated palette is a sort of sine qua non for Kurdish weaving, as all the examples shown here demonstrate. 690 and 2433 from the Nazmiyal collection would most readily be called Yuruk Anatolian. But most Yuruks from the later nineteenth century with designs of this type rarely have such rich or varied color. The same may be said of Kurdish rugs with Caucasian cast like 2793 from the Nazmiyal collection. The design here draws equally on pile and kilim traditions from the Transcaucasus region, but the particular rage of colors – autumnal oranges with soft blues, greens, and aubergine is now recognized a distinctive Kurdish palette of the Sauj Bulag region in Northwest Iran.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 18:21:03 +0000
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