Small Tekke Rug

Tekke Rug

The Tekke are Oghuz Turkmen by descent. Hundreds of years ago much of the Oghuz migrated west and the remainder were dominated by the Salor to the north and the Ersari to the south. The Tekke spilt off from the Salor confederation and by early in the 19th century became the dominant tribe in Turkestan beating first the Salor, the Saryk, and then the Yomut in battle. Finally the Tekke lost to the Czarist armies and the nature of their weaving changed.

Tekke weaving went through a series of changes in the 19th century into the early 20th century. As the impetus in weaving shifted from the Tribal esthetic to a commercially driven market force the Tekke wove increasingly more technically complex rugs. Here we have a rug from the late 19th - early 20th century.

How We Select Our Rugs

Picture to the left is too dark so use it for pattern the the scan below for color.

Structure: Asymmetrical knot open right. 9 knots per horizontal inch and 18 knots per vertical inch. 88 per square inch (1255 per square decimeter). Depressed.

Yarn Spin: Z.

Warp: 2 ply wool white.

Weft: 2 ply wool 2 shots. brown.

Pile: 2 Wool singles

Ends: 1/2 inch warp faced plain weave, warp fringe.

Selvages: overcast blue wool.

Further Notes: The weaving is very good but the fading in a minor red is indicative of the date I ascribe.

Excellent Wool, The Dark wool is Indigo Blue (not black)!

As the rugs technically improved the spacing decreased making the grouping more crowded. This is a transitional piece in that it is more crowded than earlier pieces but not as much as later pieces. We can also see that this one has simpler borders than much newer ones.