The Allen Bergama Prayer Rug mid 18th c.

The Allen Bergama Prayer Rug

This rug strikes me as very old. I suspect that this rug may well date from the mid 18th century. Bergama rugs are generally seen to be derivative of Ottoman court carpets.

I remember attending a lecture a while back at the Textile Museum by Marla Mallet. Marla had us drawing out designs and she demonstrated that "Design influence flows most often from restrictive fiber techniques to freer techniques." Murray Eiland Jr has long advocated a complimentary theory that Major designs would start as court art and then degenerate into village rug designs over a period of time. The reason I mention this is because the more formal and closer to Ottoman Court Textiles a Bergama is the more likely it is to be older. So when I compare this rug to the 19th century Bergama in Eiland & Eiland Oriental Rugs A Complete Guide page 175 illustration 136 I have to conclude that this rug predates that rug substantially. .

Compare the top of the mihrab to above detail from Bergama Rug that was auctioned at Sotheby's

Extending from the white areas into the red are small "y" shapes. It reminds me of the protrusions into the field of a Lampa Karabagh. Since there was much movement Lampa Karabagh Rug

Walter Hawley is not a favorite source on rugs but he does add some good points to the discussion of Bergama rugs. He described the knots as being tied with fine yarn. The wefts he describes as reddish brown of small diameter completely hiding the warps. In Bergama rugs from before 1770 he notes that you are likely to see variation in the number of wefts throughout the rug. Hawley, Walter A. Oriental Rugs Antique and Modern. pages 50 - 57.

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