Hamadan rugs typically have one heavy
cotton shot of weft (single wefted) and
are made with thick high quality
wool.Coarsely woven but substantial rugs.
According to Leslie Stroh of Rug News
there are 1500 villages in the Hamadan
area that each produced about 2 designs
so that there were 3000 different types
of Hamadan rugs at the
height of OCM's business in Hamadan.
Ever since I started writing on the Internet I
have felt a great difficulty in explaining
structural details in a way that non-specialists
can understand. Sure a small percentage get what
I am describing but until now I have not been
able to express my thoughts in an easy way.
This video comes closer to what I am trying to
say. Let me know what you think.
Barry JBOC@SpongoBongo.com
Single weft is called "Sennah
Baft" or Hamadan
weave. Here the wefts
are rigid and the warps
are sinuous. As you can see in the sketch the wefts
are heavier than the warps.
It is woven with symmetrical knots. Since there
is only one shot of weft between each row of
knots this shows every other warp which
makesthese rugs easy to spot.
Single Wefts in a Hamadan Rugs
Ever since I started writing on the Internet I
have felt a great difficulty in explaining
structural details in a way that non-specialists
can understand. Sure a small percentage get what
I am describing but until now I have not been
able to express my thoughts in an easy way.
This video comes closer to what I am trying to
say. Let me know what you think.
Barry JBOC@SpongoBongo.com
ONE WOMAN ONE WEFT , The village rugs of
Hamadan,
by Tad Runge, 152 pages, 75 color plates,
76 color details, 10 b& w
photographs, and a comprehensive
technical analysis section by Holly
Smith. Hardbound. ISBN # 0-615-12038-5.
In about 1179 a young man who would grow up to
be Cinggis Qahan (Ghengis Khan) was aided by the
son of the Chieftain of the Arulat clan. The
young man was Bo'orcu. He became one of Cinggis
Qahan's Dorben Kulu'ud (Great Warriors). In the Yuan
ch'ao pi-shih, quatrain 205, it is recorded
that later in life Cinggis Qahan said "Let
Bo'orcu govern the ten thousand of the right hand
which take the Altai as pillow." In other
words the Qahan gave a proto-tribal unit to a key
general. I am certainly no linguist but I
translate Borchalu as Bo'orcu Lu or the people of
Bo'orcu. The Lu of Bo'orculu as coming from the
same root as the Mongol
term Ulus which means the land, animals, and
people, that a that an IL or tribal group
controls. These people became known as the
Bo'orculu or people of Bo'orcu. Over the years
Bo'orculu becomes Borchalu. So if Ford is correct
and I believe he is that the Borchalu are Mongol than they must
be descended from the Horde of Bo'orcu.
This Khamseh has nothing to do with the
Southwest Persian tribal confederation.
Khamseh refers to the area north of
Hamadan and south of Zangan.
It is one of those areas that appears on
rug book maps but nowhere else.
Nonetheless it is a major production area
of Kurdish
rugs from north of the Hamadan
area.
The city of Sonqur is a collection point
for Kolyai Kurdish rugs<
The Kolyai are Sorani Kurd of the
Southern Kurd group and are related to
the Bijari (Garrusi) and the Arbili,
Adaiani (Sanandaji), Khushnaw, Sulaymani,
Pizhdar, Mukri, Warmawa, Garmiyani,
Garrusi (Bijari), Kolya'i, Zangana,
Kirmanshahi. The
Kurdish People: an Analysis by language,
geography, religion and ethnicity
Maslaghan is a village due east
of Hamadan in the Karaghan area near Kerdar and
Nobearan. For many years those rugs were
attributed Mosul and were thought to be Kurdish.
Maslaghan is a village due east
of Hamadan in the Karaghan area near Kerdar and
Nobearan. For many years those rugs were
attributed to Mosul and were thought to be
Kurdish.
Is an area North of Hamadan east
of Cesme Bijar and south of Zanjan that produces
single wefted rugs and runners in an American
Sarouk style. There is also a Mehraban in Persian
Azerbaijan near Heriz that produces Heriz type
carpets.
Nehavend or Nahavand is a town in
the Hamadan area that produces larger rugs that
are similar in style to some rugs from the Sarouk
area. They are single wefted, cotton foundation,
Turkish knotted rugs.
Rudbar is located east of Hamadan
and west of the holy city of Qum, near Tafrish.
It is often thought to be near the Caspian sea
but that is Rudbarak which produces a very
different type of rug. The wool and sometimes the
rugs themselves are attributed to the Saveh Shah
Savan. Rudbar produces a variety of different
size rugs including very good long runners. The
rugs are made with single weft construction and
wear well due to sturdy construction and a
moderately high knot count (75 - 100 KPSI) using
very good wool.
Shirishabad or Sirisabad is just north of Qorve
which is on the main road halfway between
Sanandag (sennah) and Hamadan.
Shirishabad is actually in Kurdistan. However the
rug is considered in the Hamadan group
today on the basis of construction. Still the
weave is called "Sennah
Baft" because it was traditional to the
Sanandag (sennah) area.
Tafrash a district in the
province of Markazi Iran. Tafresh or Tafres is
in-between Hamadan and
Qum in the province of Markazi. It is closer to
Qum but the rugs are of the Hamadan type.
