Fine Turkish Kayseri Rug, Hereke Prayer Design, c. 1970s
A viewing is a request, not a booking: we write back within 24 hours to confirm a time, in open hours or out of them. No account needed.
ABOUT THIS PIECE
This Kayseri piece is woven at the density of the famed Hereke ateliers. Our count verified more than 450,000 knots per square metre, which is rare air for Turkish wool weaving. The design is the classic Istanbul prayer format: a mihrab arch over a midnight field massed with flowers, diamond-patterned vases in the spandrels, and a soft brick main border. The palette of sage, cream and navy sits beautifully in contemporary interiors.
The finest Kayseri looms built their reputation producing Hereke designs at exactly this grade. This example survives in essentially unworn condition. The pile is full and lustrous, and the long fringes and flatwoven end skirts are completely intact, which is the profile of a rug that was admired rather than walked on. Our analysis found small-lot hand-dyed colour throughout, with gentle abrash in the navies and a soft compound green, a palette we assess as partly vegetal, dyed in the manner of a traditional dyehouse rather than modern package-dyed production. Knot for knot it is one of the finest wool weavings on our floor, at a fraction of what its Persian equivalents command.
Specs: Origin: Kayseri, Turkey. Design: Hereke-school prayer design. Age: circa 1970s. Structure: hand-knotted wool on cotton, over 450,000 knots per square metre. Size: 195 x 125 cm.
SPECIFICATIONS
How it sits in your room.
194 × 124 CM (6'4" × 4'1"), DRAWN TO SCALE WITH TYPICAL AUSTRALIAN FURNITURE SIZES.
About the length of a 3-seater sofa, so it sits just in front of it with the coffee table on it. Floated like this it reads as a deliberate island rather than a rug that came up short.
Only 22 cm of rug would show beyond even a four-seat table, so the chairs would sit off it. This one belongs in a living room or bedroom.
Only 21 cm of rug would show either side of a queen bed. It works, but 45 cm or more looks settled. At the foot of the bed it suits well.
Measure the room, or just the area the rug should cover, and we will draw this rug in it to scale.
