Name of Object:

Prayer rug

Location:

Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

Holding Museum:

Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums

 About Burrell Collection, Glasgow Museums, Glasgow

Date of Object:

Hegira 1217 / AD 1802

Museum Inventory Number:

BC 9.57

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Wool (warp, weft and pile); woven on a handloom.

Dimensions:

Length 200.6 cm, width 111.7 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Ladik, Anatolia, Turkey.

Description:

A prayer rug that is typical of those produced in Ladik, a village near the city of Konya in central Anatolia. The rug has a red, central niche surrounded by three decorated frames. In the centre of the niche is an abstract tree-of-life motif springing from a stylised water-vessel. Above the vessel there is a rectangle with illegible text; above the tip of the niche there are a crescent and another rectangle with the date according to the hegira calendar, '1217' (1802) woven sideways. Made by the women in the village on a domestic handloom, the design for this type of prayer rug is inspired by the columned, court prayer rugs of the AH 10th–11th / AD 16th–17th centuries. The women also reared the sheep, sheered the wool, spun it and dyed it. Ladik lay on the main pilgrimage route from north to south, and these rugs were made to supplement the villagers' income, and were, subsequently, presented to mosques and shrines in the area and beyond as pious offerings. One such rug appears in a 17th-century European painting, a still life by Nicolaes van Gelder, dated 1664.

View Short Description

This prayer rug is an example of those produced in the village of Ladik near Konya in Anatolia. Made by the women in the village, on a domestic handloom, the rugs were sold to pilgrims who passed through on their way to Mecca. They in turn donated them to mosques and shrines on their return.

How date and origin were established:

Woven into the rug is the date according to the hegira calendar, '1217' (1802) positioned in a rectangle above the tip of the crescent on top of the niche.

How Object was obtained:

Part of the collection given to the City of Glasgow by Sir William and Lady Burrell in 1944.

How provenance was established:

Artistic analysis and comparison with other prayer rugs made in Ladik.

Selected bibliography:

Bailey, J.,'Ladik Prayer Rugs', Halı,no. 28, October–December 1985, London, pp.18–25.

Black, D., World Rugs and Carpets: A Comprehensive Guide to the Design, Provenance and Buying of Carpets, Feltham, 1985.

Citation of this web page:

Noorah Al-Gailani "Prayer rug" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus04;35;en

Prepared by: Noorah Al-Gailani
Copyedited by: Mandi Gomez


MWNF Working Number: UK4 39