Konya 18th carpet with Memling gul design

A ''gul'' (also written ''gol'', ''göl'' and ''gül'') is a medallion-like design element typical of traditional hand-

woven Woven fabric is any textile formed by weaving. Woven fabrics are often created on a loom, and made of many threads woven on a warp and a weft. Technically, a woven fabric is any fabric made by interlacing two or more threads at right angles to on ...

carpets from

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

West Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

. In Turkmen weavings they are often repeated to form the pattern in the main field.

Shape

''Gul'' are medallions, often

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

al, and often somewhat angular on a generally octagonal plan, though they can be somewhat rounded within the constraints of carpet-weaving, and some are lozenge-shaped (

rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The ...

es). They usually have either twofold rotational symmetry or mirror

reflection symmetry In mathematics, reflection symmetry, line symmetry, mirror symmetry, or mirror-image symmetry is symmetry with respect to a reflection. That is, a figure which does not change upon undergoing a reflection has reflectional symmetry. In 2D ther ...

(often both left/right and up/down). ''Gul'' were historically described in the West as being elephant's foot motifs. Other Western guesses held that the ''gul'' was a drawing of a round Turkmen tent, with lines between tents representing irrigation canals; or that the emblem was a

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While ''the wo ...

ic bird. None of these descriptions have any basis in weaving tradition or culture.

Etymology

The term ''gul'', ''gol'', ''göl'' or ''gül'' is used widely across Central and West Asia, and among carpet specialists in the West. It is derived from the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word gol (گل) which means flower or rose.

Usage

In Turkmen weavings, such as bags and rugs, guls are often repeated to form the basic pattern in the main field (excluding the border). The different Turkmen tribes such as Tekke,

Salor Salor is a state constituency in Kelantan, Malaysia, that has been represented in the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly The Kelantan State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Kelantan) is the unicameral state legislature of the ...

Ersari Ersari ( tk, Ärsary, where ''Er'' - brave man, master; ''sari'' - light, bright, yellow) are one of the major tribes of the Turkmen people of Central Asia and one of the five major tribes of the country of Turkmenistan. They live mainly in Tur ...

and

Yomut The Yomut or Yomud is a Turkmen tribe that lives in Western and Central Asia, including Gorgan, Iran; Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan; the eastern Caspian shores; Khiva, Uzbekistan; and Dashoguz, Turkmenistan. The Yomut carpet is a type of rug t ...

traditionally wove a variety of guls, some of ancient design, but gul designs were often used by more than one tribe, and by non-Turkmens. Western authors have used comparison of the "design vocabulary" of tribal guls, reproduced on traditional rugs, in studying the

ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (; ) is "the formation and development of an ethnic group". This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification. The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th century neologism that was later introdu ...

of Asian peoples.

In Western culture

Western artists including

Hans Memling Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...

depicted

oriental carpet An oriental rug is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in " Oriental countries" for home use, local sale, and export. Oriental carpets can be pile woven or flat woven without pile, using v ...

s from Turkish Anatolia with guls in several of his paintings, to the extent that these are known as

Memling carpet Oriental carpet, Carpets of Middle-Eastern origin, either from Turkish carpet, Anatolia, Persian carpet, Persia, Armenian carpet, Armenia, Azerbaijani rug, Azerbaijan, the Levant, the Mamluk state of Egypt or Northern Africa, were used as decora ...

s. These guls often contain star or (hooked) dragon motifs as found on 15th century

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

carpets. The presence of the hooked motif defines a "Memling carpet". The artists

Lorenzo Lotto Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian Painting, painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school (art), Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He pain ...

and Hans Holbein who similarly depicted Anatolian carpets also have the varieties they painted named after them.

Shape

Etymology

Usage

In Western culture

See also

References

Further reading