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Glossary of Oriental Rugs / Carpets
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Canakkale - A rug producing town in Northwest Turkey. Often lumped in with the Bergama production, Canakkales can be distinguished by their distinctive palette of soft apricots, blues, and ivory in conjunction with classically derived Turkish designs. |
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Cairene - A new style of carpet production emerged in Cairo in the sixteenth century under Ottoman Turkish rule. Closely related to classical Persian models, Cairene carpets have curvilinear designs of arabesque vinescrolls and palmettes organized in a medallion format, with subdued coloration. |
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Carding - The manual combing of the shorn wool removes any bulk dirt and to begin the process of separating out the fibers for spinning. This cared wool is then washed. Picked cotton balls and silk cocoons are also submitted to a process of carding and washing before they are spun. |
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Carpet - A term of Armenian origin denoting any form of woven floor covering, but usually referring to knotted pile weavings of any size. Equivalent to the English term rug, Turkish “Hali,” Turkoman, “Khali,” and Farsi “Ghali.” |
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Cartoon - A weaving aid consisting of a sketch or diagram detailing the design of a rug or carpet, or a portion of that design that can be repeated symmetrically to produce the entire design. The use of cartoons is one of the factors that distinguish the production of city rugs from village and nomadic weaving, where designs are worked out from memory or imitation of existing rugs. |
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Central Asia - While the dominant nomadic rug and textile production in Central Asia was maintained by the various Turkoman peoples, other tribal groupings were active as well such as the Khirghiz, Uzbeks, and Karakalpaks etc. These, however, are generally referred to under the heading of Central Asian Nomadic. Such production includes, woven carpets, embroidery, and carded felt. |
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Chinese - Carpets made in China are enormously varied in design. Often related more to the tradition of silk textiles, Chinese carpets were produced in medallion as well as allover formats, but are usually more open and spacious than Oriental carpets from further west, often containing prominent pictorial elements - trees, clouds, and various animals.
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Chodor - A rug-producing tribe of the Central Asian Turkomans. Less common than Tekke, Yomud, or Ersari weavings, Chodor pieces are recognized by their distinctive designs and coloration. |
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Chrome dyes - A later generation of synthetic dyes using potassium bichromate as a mordant or fixer that became common after 1920. Chrome dyes do not run or fade, but they can be harsh and never soften or mellow with time. The ability to make large quantities in uniform tones ended the technique of color variation or abrash in hand-woven rugs.
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City Rug - A rug woven in a town or urban setting, generally as a commercially venture under highly organized circumstances, with set pictorial cartoons or verbal knot- counting commands. |
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Cochineal - An insect-derived dye made from the bodies of beetles, dactylopius coccus, yielding tones from bluish red to pinkish magenta. Initially discovered in the New World by the Spanish Conquistadors, its cultivation spread rapidly to the Canary Islands and Spain. Its use is attested in Ottoman Turkish documents of the eighteenth century. The active agent in cochineal is carminic acid. |
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Cornerpieces - See medallion. |
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Cotton – A vegetable fiber derived from the cultivated cotton plant. Widely used for the foundation of rugs and textiles, but sometimes as the main material as well. |
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Crivelli Star - A type of early Turkish carpet named for Italian Renaissance painter Carlo Crivelli, in whose paintings they appear. The Crivelli star was a segmented medallion related to the so-called Ghirlandaio type, but less complex. Like the latter it was adapted from Islamic Muqarnas designs. |
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