How big is an antique prayer rug?

Small. Titles quote sizes such as 107 x 74cm, 133 x 85cm, 150 x 90cm and 176 x 104cm, with widths clustering between roughly 75cm and 130cm. Some are smaller still, made for a child. The long exceptions are multi-niche saf rugs and one green Ghiordes at 153 x 343cm, catalogued as a carpet.

Which regions made prayer rugs?

Turkey and Anatolia account for the largest group on Sellingantiques, with Ghiordes, Konya, Kirsehir, Kayseri, Milas, Ladik, Bergama and Mudjur all named in titles. The Persian-Afghan borderlands come close behind through the Baluch and Timuri weavings. The Caucasus supplies about a tenth, and Turkmen, silk and kilim examples fill out the rest. Single outliers include a Syrian Aleppo kilim, a pictorial silk from East Turkestan, an Agra rug from India and Uzbek suzani embroideries in prayer format.

What does the niche in the design mean?

The niche, or mihrab, points. It gives the rug an orientation so a worshipper laying it down faces Mecca, and it is the one design element common to the whole category. How the niche is drawn varies by region. Afghan village and Turkmen weavers often build it from hooked rams horn motifs, while Baluch and Kizil Ayak rugs sometimes carry three niches side by side.

Are prayer rugs usually wool pile?

Wool pile is the usual thing. Flatwoven kilims account for twenty-one titles and silk for thirty-one, so both are a minority within the archive. The silks come from Kashan, Kashmir, Tabriz and Kayseri, the last often described as art silk. Camel wool, cotton and metal thread get named occasionally too.

When were most of these woven?

Dealer dating across the archive runs from 1750 to 1950, and 401 of 442 listings carry a clean year. The two fullest decades are the 1920s and the 1900s, followed by the 1880s and 1890s. Much of that dating is approximate by the dealers' own wording, with entries filed simply as 19th century, circa 1900/20, or second half 19th century. Woven dates are the firm evidence, and they surface only occasionally: 1285 for 1868 on a Ladik, 1320 for 1902 on a Shirvan, 1883 on a black Marasali.

Do prayer rugs carry maker names?

No. They are named by region or tribe, not by workshop, and no signature or manufactory shows up across the listings. What stands in for a maker name is the attribution: Marasali, Fachralo Kazak, Timuri Yaqoub Khani of the Khaf valley, Dokhtar-e-Qazi. Precise naming of that kind sits at the top of the range.

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Antique Prayer Rugs

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A prayer rug is a small hand-knotted or flatwoven rug with a pointed niche at one end of the field, laid down and turned toward Mecca for the daily prayers.