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East Turkestan
Prior to the
Chinese occupation in 1878, the area in western China above
Tibet was called East Turkestan. Even though the area itself
is no longer called East Turkestan, the rugs of this area
are still labeled as East Turkestan rugs. They may also be
marketed under 'Samarkand' because East Turkestan rugs used
to be traded in Samarkand. The main East Turkestan sub-styles
include Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. East Turkestan rugs have
always been rare, and they are still being woven on a small scale.
The
layout of East Turkestan rugs can be either medallion
or all-over. Their pattern is mainly geometric. East
Turkestan rugs tend to be long and narrow. A very common
design is the pomegranate and vase, which is a symbol
of fertility. The vase symbolizes Mother Earth and the
pomegranate is the fruit growing from Mother Earth.
The vase could be on one end or both ends of the rug
and is usually very small, even smaller than the pomegranates.
The pomegranates are attached to each other with branches
like a tree.
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Another
frequent design consists of three medallions on a solid
background. The medallions are sometimes squares with
rounded corners or hexagons. The middle medallion represents
Buddha; the other two medallions represent Buddha's acolytes.
Other versions also exist such as one medallion and corners,
or less common, eight to ten medallions in two columns
inside square lattices, which could be considered an all-over layout. East Turkestan medallions usually
consist of smaller medallions within larger ones.
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Another
design is a repeating all-over gul. The guls have hooks
around their outer border and a rosette inside them.
A very common border motif is a shape resembling an
anchor, which can sometimes be quite large. Rosettes
with eight petals are also common in the borders. They
can also come in various sizes. The usual background
colors are red, blue, salmon, ivory, or yellow. The
colors most commonly used for the motifs are red, blue,
light blue, blue green, white, yellow, and brown.
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The saf prayer
rugs are also common. These rugs are bright and multi-colored
with up to ten mihrabs. Each mihrab contains a tree-of-life
design. The main border contains several small squares of
various colors with multi-colored centers.
Saf
Prayer Rug
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