A knotted-pile carpet is a

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

containing raised surfaces, or piles, from the cut off ends of

knot A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ' ...

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 ...

between the

warp and weft Warp and weft are the two basic components used in weaving to turn thread or yarn into fabric. The lengthwise or longitudinal warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a frame or loom while the transverse weft (sometimes woof) is drawn ...

. The Ghiordes/Turkish knot and the Senneh/Persian knot, typical of Anatolian carpets and

Persian carpet A Persian carpet ( fa, فرش ایرانی, translit=farš-e irâni ) or Persian rug ( fa, قالی ایرانی, translit=qâli-ye irâni ),Savory, R., ''Carpets'',(Encyclopaedia Iranica); accessed January 30, 2007. also known as Iranian ...

s, are the two primary knots.Goswami, K.K.; ed. (2009). ''Advances in Carpet Manufacture'', p.239. Woodhead Publishing in Textiles: Number 87 ( The Textile Institute). . "The two most common types of knot used in an oriental carpet are the Persian knot and the Turkish knot." A flat or

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

woven carpet, without pile, is a

kilim A kilim ( az, Kilim کیلیم; tr, Kilim; tm, Kilim; fa, گلیم ''Gilīm'') is a flat tapestry- woven carpet or rug traditionally produced in countries of the former Persian Empire, including Iran, the Balkans and the Turkic countries. Ki ...

. A pile carpet is influenced by width and number of warp and weft, pile height, knots used, and

knot density Knot density is a traditional measure for quality of handmade or knotted pile carpets. It refers to the number of knots, or knot count, per unit of surface area - typically either per square inch (kpsi) or per square centimeter (kpsc), but al ...

. "The structural weft threads alternate with supplementary weft that rises from the surface of the weave at a perpendicular angle. This supplementary weft is attached to the warp by one of three knots... to form the pile or nap of the carpet." Knots are tied in rows, one to each pair of warp threads, which may then be pushed down to make the rug more solid: "the interwoven warp and weft threads form the carpet's foundation, and the design comes from the rows of knots." "In the knotted-pile...the arrangement of rows of weft is the dominant consideration." Diagonal, or offset, knotting has knots in successive rows occupy alternate pairs of warps. This feature allows for changes from one half knot to the next, and creates diagonal pattern lines at different angles. It is sometimes found in Kurdish or Turkmen rugs, particularly in Yomuds. It is mostly tied symmetrically.

Ghiordes

The Ghiordes knot, symmetrical knot or Turkish knot is one of the two most-used knots employed in knotted-pile carpets. In the Ghiordes knot, the colored

weft Warp and weft are the two basic components used in weaving to turn thread or yarn into fabric. The lengthwise or longitudinal warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a frame or loom while the transverse weft (sometimes woof) is dra ...

yarn passes over the two warp yarns, and is pulled through between them and then cut to form the pile. The Ghiordes knot has a symmetrical structure. The Ghiordes knot is the knot used in the oldest surviving pile carpets, the fragments found in Pazyryk

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central As ...

burial mounds, in the Altai of Central Asia. The Ghiordes knot is also used in

Turkeywork Turkeywork (alternately turkey-work or turkey work; sometimes called setwork and Norwich work) is a knotted-and-cut pile furnishing textile produced in England from the sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries. Turkeywork was used for table carp ...

textiles of the Early Modern period. To tie a Ghiordes knot, the yarn is passed between two adjacent warps, brought back under one, wrapped around both forming a collar, then pulled through the center so that both ends emerge between the warps. The Ghiordes knot uses two warps.

Senneh

Persian carpets are mainly woven with two different knots: The symmetrical Turkish or "Ghiordes" knot, also used in Turkey, the Caucasus, East Turkmenistan, and some Turkish and Kurdish areas of Iran, and the asymmetrical Persian, or Senneh knot, also used in India, Turkey, Pakistan, China, and Egypt. The term "Senneh knot" is somewhat misleading, as rugs are woven with symmetric knots in the town of Senneh. The asymmetric knot is tied by wrapping the yarn around only one warp, then the thread is passed behind the adjacent warp so that it divides the two ends of the yarn. The Persian knot may open on the left or the right. The Persian knot may be considered as using two warps, or only warp. The asymmetric knot allows the artist to produce more fluent, often curvilinear designs, while more bold, rectilinear designs may use the symmetric knot. As exemplified by Senneh rugs with their elaborate designs woven with asymmetric knots, the quality of the design depends more on the weaver's skills, than on the type of knot which is used.

Jufti

Another knot frequently used in Persian carpets is the Jufti knot, which is tied around four warps instead of two. A serviceable carpet can be made with jufti knots, and jufti knots are sometimes used in large single-colour areas of a rug, for example in the field, to save on material. However, as carpets woven wholly or partly with the jufti knot need only half the amount of pile yarn compared to traditionally woven carpets, their pile is less resistant to wear, and these rugs do not last as long.

Other knots

Another variant of knot is known from early Spanish rugs. The Spanish knot or single-warp knot, is tied around one single warp. Some of the rug fragments excavated by A. Stein in Turfan seem to be woven with a single knot. Single knot weavings are also known from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

ian Coptic pile rugs.

Knot gallery

File:Knopen 001.jpg, Turkish (symmetric) knot File:Knopen 002.jpg, Persian (asymmetric) knot, open to the right File:Knopen 005.jpg, Variants of the "Jufti" knot woven around four warps File:Spanish knot.svg, Spanish knot or single-warp knot File:Knopen 006.jpg, Diagonal, or offset, knotting File:Knopen 004.jpg, Weaving with one warp depressed File:Knopen amt.gif, Knitting an asymmetric knot, open to the right, with a knitting hook similar to the Tabriz type

References

External links

Rug Knots
and

, ''MathForum.org''. Accessed: December 14, 2016.
Ghiordes knot
- ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''. Accessed: June 26, 2020. {{Knots Rugs and carpets Turkic rugs and carpets Knots used in carpet weaving Turkish rugs and carpets