Turkish Hereke Metalic and Silk Rug

This fine silk rug features a truly unique tree of life design with animal motifs scattered through out. The design reveales purch birds and leaf scrolls through the centre and a repeat pattern border woven in greens, browns and ivory on a light grey/ blue background. This oriental rug was woven in Anatolia, Turkey in the historic city of Hereke. In the mid-19th century, Sultan Abdul Majid proclaimed Hereke to be the royal weaving village. The small rugs woven there were considered the finest in the world. All examples of this woven rug used select Borsa silk which is the finest quality carpet silk. The Sultan required that all of the silk rugs woven in Hereke had to be signed with the name Hereke. These oriental rugs were regularly woven for the aristocracy in Europe, Asia, and The Middle East. The design of this luxury rugs is unique because it is an interpretation of the famous 17th-century Mughal carpet from India. The Mughal carpet was exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum and was illustrated in the book called Flowers Under Foot, published by the Museum. The gold rug has 1200 knots per square inch, and the entire field is woven of silver/metallic thread. The signature of these patterned rugs (see detail photos) is written in Ottoman script and says Use Ipek, which was the premier workshops in Hereke during the 1970s. Pure Silk Rugs, Metallic Pictorial Turkish Rugs, Hereke Handmade Carpet