Hereke carpets are Turkish handmade
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 ...
s produced and sold in
Hereke Hereke is a town in Kocaeli province, Turkey, located to the north of the Gulf of İzmit, near Istanbul. It is famous for Hereke carpets. It was bound to Gebze district until transferring to Körfez in 1987 and had municipality status until 2009 ...
, a coastal town in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
. For a long time, they used to be produced only in Hereke, 60 km from
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
. The materials used are
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...
, a combination of
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
and
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
, and sometimes gold or silver threads.
[Önder Küçükerman. The rugs and textiles of Hereke: A documentary account of the history of Hereke : court workshop to model factory. Sümerbank Genel Müdürlüğü (1987). ASIN B0007BYPCQ]
The Ottoman sultan
Abdülmecid I
Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...
founded the Hereke Imperial Manufacture in 1841 to produce all the textiles for his
Dolmabahçe Palace
Dolmabahçe Palace ( tr, Dolmabahçe Sarayı, ) located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European coast of the Bosporus strait, served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 t ...
on the
Bosphorus. He gathered the best artists and carpet weavers of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in Hereke, where they began producing high-quality rugs and large carpets with unique patterns.
[M. Kenan Kaya, Yaşar Yılmaz, Sara Boynak, Vahide Gezgör. Hereke Silk Carpets and Fabrics in the National Palaces Collection. TBMM, Istanbul.]
After completing work on the Dolmabahçe Palace, the Ottoman sultans used to give Hereke carpets as gifts to selected visiting royalty, noblemen and statesmen. It was not until 1890 that some traders in Istanbul were allowed to sell some of the pieces made at Hereke. With the end of the Ottoman Empire, the production of Hereke carpets was restricted until the middle of the 20th century, when some master-weavers in Hereke began once more to produce the carpets in continuation of the tradition of the Ottoman palace carpets.
[
As of 1920, Hereke was home to a carpet-making school which was run by the state. Both Muslim and Christian women and children attended classes.]Ghiordes knot
A knotted-pile carpet is a carpet containing raised surfaces, or piles, from the cut off ends of knots woven between the warp and weft. The Ghiordes/Turkish knot and the Senneh/Persian knot, typical of Anatolian carpets and Persian carpets, a ...
s), which allows the clear display of patterns, together with the colour combinations and the harmonious patterns, have made them highly collectible. Today, Hereke carpets and rugs are still made with the traditional patterns of the Ottoman sultan, Abdülmecid I, as well as both traditional Anatolian and contemporary figurative patterns.[
]
Manufacturing information
The Hereke carpet is woven in two ways: wool on cotton yarn and silk on silk. There are 3600 loops per dm² of wool carpets. Its quality is called 60x60. In silk carpets, there are 10.000 loops per dm². Its quality is called 100x100. This is the standard of real Hereke carpets, even though they are woven more often.[
Pile heights are 1.5-2.0 mm for silk carpets and 4.0-5.0 mm for wool carpets. Since Hereke carpets are frequently woven, the patterns are quite detailed. Hereke carpets are geographically registered with patents. Since Hereke carpets are woven with a Turkish knot (called a double knot or Gördes knot), they are much more durable than Persian rugs (single knot or sini knot). Hereke carpets have come to life with the original designs of the palace engravers, which have not been affected by the Iranian carpet patterns until today, even when they were first woven. Unfortunately, the wool quality used today is much lower than the wool quality used in carpets in the past.][
The reason for this is that while the wool used was completely live animal wool in the past, nowadays cut animal wool is used, moreover, the wool used has a duller color than the old ones due to the dye quality and non-compliance with the shearing seasons. But today, especially the wool produced by Sümerhalı is given a mothproof property with a special finish before the fleece is dyed. Paint is done later. This increases the durability and quality of the carpet. Apart from this, it is woven in Isparta region, Sivas (Sivas Prison carpet is also a hereke carpet) and Diyarbakır. The carpets woven on these looms are trimmed at appropriate height in special pile machines in the Isparta Sümer carpet factory, washed, their backs are cleaned from excess lengths with flame and classified according to their quality and released to the market. When buying a Hereke carpet, care should be taken that the wool does not gush out from weft and warp on the back, and the pattern does not slip. In addition, the pile height and the cut shape also affect the quality.
The most known and classic pattern of this carpet is "The Flower of Seven Mountains". However, there are also very beautiful patterns such as burucie and polonez. If we compare the Hereke carpet with the Persian carpets, the thousands of dollars worth of Bidjar rugs can be considered as a precedent even if not as much as hereke. However, the way of weaving, pattern and color variety, and being a hard carpet always highlight the Hereke carpet.
]
References
Bibliography
* Oktay Aslanapa, Ayşe Fazlıoğlu. ''The Last Loop of the Knot; Ottoman Court Carpets''. TBMM, Istanbul, 2006.
* Uğur Ayyıldız. ''Hereke and Kayseri: Pure silk Turkish carpets''. NET Turizm Ticaret ve Sanayi A.S (1983). ASIN B0007B1NHG
External links
Encyclopædia Britannica , Hereke
The Ottomans
{{Rugs and carpets
Turkish rugs and carpets