Hamadan rugs typically have one heavy cotton
shot of weft (single wefted) and are made with thick high quality
wool.Coarsely woven but substantial rugs.
According to Leslie Stroh of Rug News there are
1500 villages in the Hamadan area that each produced about 2 designs so
that there were 3000 different types of Hamadan rugs at the height of OCM's business in Hamadan.
Ever since I started writing on the Internet I
have felt a great difficulty in explaining structural details in a way
that non-specialists can understand. Sure a small percentage get what I
am describing but until now I have not been able to express my thoughts
in an easy way.
This video comes closer to what I am trying to
say. Let me know what you think.
Barry JBOC@SpongoBongo.com
Single weft is called "Sennah
Baft" or Hamadan
weave. Here the wefts
are rigid and the warps
are sinuous. As you can see in the sketch the wefts
are heavier than the warps.
It is woven with symmetrical knots. Since there is only one shot of
weft between each row of knots this shows every other warp which
makesthese rugs easy to spot.
Single Wefts in a Hamadan Rugs
Ever since I started writing on the Internet I
have felt a great difficulty in explaining structural details in a way
that non-specialists can understand. Sure a small percentage get what I
am describing but until now I have not been able to express my thoughts
in an easy way.
This video comes closer to what I am trying to
say. Let me know what you think.
Barry JBOC@SpongoBongo.com
ONE WOMAN ONE WEFT , The village rugs of
Hamadan,
by Tad Runge, 152 pages, 75 color plates, 76 color details, 10
b& w photographs, and a comprehensive technical analysis
section by Holly Smith. Hardbound. ISBN # 0-615-12038-5.
In about 1179 a young man who would grow up to be
Cinggis Qahan (Ghengis Khan) was aided by the son of the Chieftain of
the Arulat clan. The young man was Bo'orcu. He became one of Cinggis
Qahan's Dorben Kulu'ud (Great Warriors). In the Yuan
ch'ao pi-shih, quatrain 205, it is recorded that later in
life Cinggis Qahan said "Let Bo'orcu govern the ten thousand of the
right hand which take the Altai as pillow." In other words the Qahan
gave a proto-tribal unit to a key general. I am certainly no linguist
but I translate Borchalu as Bo'orcu Lu or the people of Bo'orcu. The Lu
of Bo'orculu as coming from the same root as the Mongol term Ulus which means
the land, animals, and people, that a that an IL or tribal group
controls. These people became known as the Bo'orculu or people of
Bo'orcu. Over the years Bo'orculu becomes Borchalu. So if Ford is correct and
I believe he is that the Borchalu are Mongol
than they must be descended from the Horde of Bo'orcu.
This Khamseh has nothing to do with the
Southwest Persian tribal confederation. Khamseh refers to the area
north of Hamadan and south of Zangan.
It is one of those areas that appears on rug book maps but nowhere
else. Nonetheless it is a major production area of Kurdish rugs from north of the
Hamadan
area.
The city of Sonqur is a collection point for
Kolyai Kurdish rugs<
The Kolyai are Sorani Kurd of the Southern Kurd
group and are related to the Bijari (Garrusi) and the Arbili, Adaiani
(Sanandaji), Khushnaw, Sulaymani, Pizhdar, Mukri, Warmawa, Garmiyani,
Garrusi (Bijari), Kolya'i, Zangana, Kirmanshahi. The Kurdish People: an Analysis by
language, geography, religion and ethnicity
Maslaghan is a village due east
of Hamadan in the Karaghan area near Kerdar and Nobearan. For many
years those rugs were attributed Mosul and were thought to be Kurdish.
Maslaghan is a village due east
of Hamadan in the Karaghan area near Kerdar and Nobearan. For many
years those rugs were attributed to Mosul and were thought to be
Kurdish.
Is an area North of Hamadan east
of Cesme Bijar and south of Zanjan that produces single wefted rugs and
runners in an American Sarouk style. There is also a Mehraban in
Persian Azerbaijan near Heriz that produces Heriz type carpets.
Nehavend or Nahavand is a town
in the Hamadan area that produces larger rugs that are similar in style
to some rugs from the Sarouk area. They are single wefted, cotton
foundation, Turkish knotted rugs.
Rudbar is located east of
Hamadan and west of the holy city of Qum, near Tafrish. It is often
thought to be near the Caspian sea but that is Rudbarak which produces
a very different type of rug. The wool and sometimes the rugs
themselves are attributed to the Saveh Shah Savan. Rudbar produces a
variety of different size rugs including very good long runners. The
rugs are made with single weft construction and wear well due to sturdy
construction and a moderately high knot count (75 - 100 KPSI) using
very good wool.
Shirishabad or Sirisabad is just north of Qorve which
is on the main road halfway between Sanandag (sennah) and Hamadan.
Shirishabad is actually in Kurdistan. However the rug
is considered in the Hamadan
group today on the basis of construction. Still the weave is called "Sennah
Baft" because it was traditional to the Sanandag (sennah) area.
Tafrash a district in the
province of Markazi Iran. Tafresh or Tafres is in-between Hamadan and Qum in the
province of Markazi. It is closer to Qum but the rugs are of the Hamadan type.
