Navy Floral Hand-Knotted Wool Hereke Rug

Yedi Dağın Çiçeği means the flower of the seven mountains, and the nine blossoms in it were drawn from the seven hills that İstanbul is built on: a hand-knotted wool Hereke rug of 90 × 159 cm (2'11" × 5'3"), navy ground, wool over cotton, with the town's name knotted into the corner. A single piece. The composition dates from the opening years of the twentieth century, and weaving began on it by an order of Sultan Abdülhamid II.

01Where the Medallion comes from

What you see on the field are small flowers and medallions scattered across the navy, and only when they are read together do they resolve into the nine. A burgundy border encloses them, patterned inside and edged outside by a narrow floral running-water band, so the frame is layered rather than flat.

02What the yarn is

Hereke itself is a historic town near İzmit that has been weaving for well over a century and supplied the Ottoman court. Cotton underneath, wool knotted over it, Sümerbank yarn throughout, and more than four months of work in a rug measuring under a meter and a half. The corner signature is what makes it possible to say the word Hereke about it at all. Its fringes are thick and silky and finish the piece at the point where most rugs are simply cut off.

03Choosing the size

At this size it belongs in a narrow corridor or at the head of a bed rather than in the middle of a room. Send it out to a rug washer, and infrequently. Tied by hand in Türkiye, in Sümerbank yarn, wool over a cotton base. The corner carries the "Hereke" signature, which is how an original is told from a copy. Nine blossoms in all, and the pattern's name is Yedi Dağın Çiçeği. The design went onto the loom under Sultan Abdülhamid II, early in the twentieth century. 90 × 159 cm (2'11" × 5'3") — a narrow hall, a doorway, the head of a bed. Navy field, burgundy border, a fine floral running-water band around the outside. More than four months of knotting in a piece this small. Thick, silky fringes finishing both ends. Small Herekes are the ones that get handed on, because they fit in the places a family keeps rearranging.