Museum textiles and a named maker’s account explain flatweave and pile, regional attribution, floral designs and the labour behind Kurdish weaving.
A textile tradition studied through particular works
Kurdish weaving includes household textiles, flatwoven kilims and knotted carpets made in different regional and commercial settings. Surviving objects reveal choices in fibre, construction, colour and design; makers’ accounts add information about work and use. The examples here connect Sanandaj/Senneh and Bijar in western Iran with a Kurdish weaver from Kayseri and preservation work in Iraqi Kurdistan. Keeping these places and individual histories visible gives the craft greater depth than describing a single uniform style.
How flatweave and pile differ
In tapestry weaving, coloured wefts pass back and forth through the warp within particular pattern areas. When adjacent colours turn back separately, small slits can form; interlocking wefts or overlapping designs offer other ways of joining areas. Powerhouse describes this structure in its Bijar kilim 85/24. [1] A pile carpet has an additional raised surface formed by knots. The Milan museum record for a carpet attributed to Senneh, dated 1800–1810, identifies wool warp, weft and pile, with symmetrical knots. [2] These construction details are useful distinctions even where flatwoven and knotted works share floral or geometric designs.
Senneh: fine floral designs in several structures
The prayer rug pictured above is attributed by the Met to Sanandaj and dated to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Its cotton warp supports wool tapestry weaving. Rows of flowers fill both the arched prayer niche and the surrounding field; the museum notes that such lightweight works could also serve as decorative hangings. [3] The Textile Museum of Canada’s T83.0225 offers another documented example: a wool slit-tapestry kilim attributed to Kurdish makers in Senneh, dated 1870–1890 and measuring 136 by 196 centimetres. [4] The Milan carpet’s small herati floral pattern provides a contrasting knotted example. Its catalogue describes the town attribution as probable and records losses to the borders. [2]
Bijar: a kilim as well as a carpet-producing region
Powerhouse dates kilim 85/24 to 1930–1950 and attributes it to Kurdish women in the Bijar region. Its catalogue specifies wool or goat hair, a navy field, a large ivory medallion and floral forms that can resemble birds. The coloured wefts curve with the design. The museum considers a variation of the herati pattern and possible influence from European tapestry motifs, expressing those interpretations cautiously. Purchased in Sydney in 1985, the object also documents the movement of a regional textile through the international trade. [1] Technique, composition and collection history each contribute to understanding it.
A named weaver: Gül Akpinar
Hackney Museum records Gül Akpinar’s kilim, made in Kayseri around 1983 and brought to Britain about five years later. Her account describes dyeing sheep’s wool, assembling a ten-piece loom, preparing designs and weaving both for personal and commercial reasons. [5] Naming the maker brings decisions and working knowledge into view. It also connects a museum object to migration and household production.
Preserving skills as well as objects
In Joshua Levkowitz’s 2019 interviews, Erbil Textile Museum director Lolan Sipan described the effects of conflict and displacement on weaving and recalled a 2008 project in which six weavers taught forty women. Painter Karani Jamil spoke about the influence of textile designs on his paintings and advocated teaching textile design in art institutes. [6] These are dated accounts of preservation concerns and practical proposals. They suggest several ways to study the heritage: document the maker, examine the weave, record the place and date of production, and preserve explanations of how an object was made and used. Motif names and symbolic interpretations become stronger historical evidence when attached to such specific testimony.
Sources and further reading
- Pamela Leuzinger and Christina Sumner, Powerhouse catalogue, Bijar kilim 85/24, 2012; 1930–1950 attribution, tapestry structure, design and acquisition.
- Lombardia Beni Culturali, Milan Museum of Cultures, Senneh carpet, catalogue by D. Cecutti, 2008; updated 2024, record 6c060-00046.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, Senneh Prayer Rug, 1970.302.8; attribution, dating, materials and technique; Open Access image.
- Textile Museum of Canada, Rug T83.0225; Kurdish Senneh kilim, 1870–1890, material, construction and dimensions.
- Hackney Museum, Kurdish Rug 2000.63; Gül Akpinar’s maker testimony.
- Joshua Levkowitz, Memory, conflict, and carpets in Iraqi Kurdistan, Middle East Institute, 7 February 2019; interviews with Lolan Sipan and Karani Jamil.