Notes on Memling Gul Rugs


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Flower Still-life on Memling Gul Rug

By Hans Memling circa 1490
Oil on oak panel, 29,2 x 22,5 cm
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid

There is no Memling tribe. Hans Memling (1430?-94) was a German born artist who became one of the Flemish masters. A master portrait artist Memling used a projector system to paint very realistic paintings. Hans Memling died in Brugge on Aug. 11, 1494 but we in the rug world remember him by a design that carries his name.

Memling Gul Kazak

This pattern to the left is what we call the Memling Gul. Seen in a wide range of rug types for over 500 years it is used by a number of different ethnic groups. The design is common among the weaving groups of Turkic origins but is common among indo-European groups such as the Kurds.

While most people associate the Memling Gul with Caucasian rugs it is used by all the major Turkmen tribes including the Salor, Saryk, Tekke, Ersari, Kizil Ajak, Yomut, Arabachi, and others.

W&W Yomut Turkmen chuval

The Marla Mallet Turkmen Saye Gosha

The Memling Gul is not limited to pile rugs and trappings. To the left we see it used in a Turkmen Saye Gosha. A Saye Gosha is a V shaped decoration used on a bed role.

Antique Moghan Memling Gul Long Rug

Detail of the back of the Shehady Antique Moghan Rug

The Moghan Controversy

There is a group of rugs that we call Moghan which are noted for their narrow format with Memling Guls. Moghan is a somewhat controversial label. The late Ulrich Schurmann delineated the group in his classic Caucasian Rugs pages 42 - 43. The Moghan steppe is a place and these rugs are attributed to that area. Ian Bennett follows the same line in Oriental Rugs Volume 1 Caucasian. Compare these rugs to plate 204 in that book. Wright and Wertime muddle the picture in Caucasian Carpets and Covers.page 89 where they say they know the Moghan rugs to not come from one part of the Moghan Steppe but that they do not know if it comes from the other. Then Murray Eiland Jr. suggests that Moghan is just a new name for rugs that used to be called Shirvan or Karadagh. He suggests that Moghan takes in a number of structures and is not a cohesive attribution. Oriental Rugs A Complete Guide page 277.

A Moghan long rug
Antique Moghan Rug
Antique Shirvan Memling Gul Long Rug - Moghan?
A Moghan Kazak long rug lot 81 (Compare this one to The Oskhan Oomikhanian rug attributed convincingly to Karabagh.)

Memling Gul rugs are common in Turkey as well.

A Small village Bergama Area Rug, 19th C.

What confuses the question is the tendency of weavers to copy marketable designs. Is the Memling Gul in this Inscribed Dated Armenian Kazak traditional to the Armenians or did they borrow it from neighbors? I suspect it is borrowed but do no ask me to prove it.