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Welcome to Our Monthly Newsletter
This month's topics are:
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu & Smallpox
ORIENTAL RUGS
CONSIGNMENT RUGS FOR SALE REMINDER
APRIL SPECIAL
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LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU
and SMALLPOX
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was born into a wealthy and entitled family in 1689 in England. (Her father was a Duke). She grew up to be a very spirited and independent young lady. She understood the value of education, even though this was not thought appropriate for girls of her time and social class.
She had the run of her family’s private library, taught herself Latin, and began an almost unheard of career as a female writer. She had written two volumes of poetry and a short novel by the time she was 16. Her writings allowed her to respond to the events around her and to also give public form to her private feelings.
You can research and enjoy her writings (letters, poetry, and essays) which she continued to produce throughout her long life, but her most important contribution was her insistence on promoting a medical technique she discovered while in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) that was instrumental in stopping the spread of the smallpox epidemic in England.
THE SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC IN ENGLAND
England in the early 1700s was in the throes of a smallpox epidemic. There are some similarities between that epidemic and the coronavirus pandemic we are dealing with today, though smallpox was far more deadly than the coronavirus.
People were afraid to leave their homes and social life as they knew it had essentially stopped. Fatalities were at 30% and a good number of the dead were children. Even if a person did not die from the disease, they were often left terribly scarred from the blisters that covered their bodies.
THE SECRET CURE FROM THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu rejected her father’s choice of a husband and eloped instead with a rising politician. Her husband was eventually appointed the English ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
Breaking convention, she traveled with him and their young son to Constantinople (Istanbul today). She sent a series of letters back to England about the long journey. These letters were eventually gathered into a volume that became an early classic example of travel writing.
Once in Turkey, Lady Montagu wrote about the new world she encountered. She was completely captivated by the different customs of life, especially the art and music. But one fact that really caught her attention was that the people were thriving, their skin was clear, and they were relatively free from smallpox. She needed to find out how this could be possible.
Her search led her to an extensive network of female medical professionals. These women were not allowed into the Ottoman universities nor was their work written into Ottoman medical texts (written by men), so they shared their knowledge only among themselves. They became surgeons, faith healers, midwives, etc.
The women were using a procedure against smallpox that was a form of inoculation, known as engrafting or variolation. Historic written accounts that did survive proved that this was a well-known practice.
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In This Issue
Consignment Rugs for Sale Reminder-We have added more rugs!
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu & Smallpox
Prayer Rugs
Dagestan Oriental Rugs
Derbend Oriental Rugs
APRIL Special
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HOW DID INOCULATION WORK?
The technique of inoculation (engrafting, variolation) involved taking a bit of pus from a smallpox patient. That small sample would be placed just beneath the skin with a needle into the blood of a healthy person. That person would then get a mild form of smallpox but would become immune to the more serious form.
The procedure probably worked because the virus was introduced through the skin, a less deadly place than the normal route of the virus entering the nasal passages, where it would quickly multiply and overwhelm the immune system. This type of procedure may actually have originated in China and was also practiced in India and Africa.
The following is Lady Montagu’s letter to her friend, Sara Chiswell, on April 1, 1717, describing the inoculation procedure:
“I am going to tell you a thing that I am sure will make you wish yourself here. The small-pox, so fatal, and so general amongst us, is here entirely harmless by the invention of ingrafting, which is the term they give it. There is a set of old women who make it their business to perform the operation every autumn, in the month of September, when the great heat is abated.
People send to one another to know if any of their family has a mind to have the small-pox; they make parties for this purpose, and when they are met (commonly fifteen or sixteen together), the old woman comes with a nut-shell full of the matter of the best sort of small-pox, and asks what veins you please to have opened. She immediately rips open that you offer to her with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a common scratch), and puts into the vein as much venom as can lie upon the head of her needle, and after binds up the little wound with a hollow bit of shell; and in this manner opens four or five veins.”
Before coming to Constantinople, Mary Wortley Montagu had contracted smallpox. The disease had killed her brother a few years earlier. She survived but was left terribly scarred. When she learned the family was being called back to England from the Ottoman Empire, she was very concerned for her young son. Because she believed totally in this medical technique of inoculation, she had her son inoculated in Constantinople.
She understood the risk that a very small number of people could become very sick and even die and some patients could still give smallpox to others. But, nevertheless, this was far less dangerous than contracting the disease through the nasal passages. Mary's son never got smallpox.
LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU RETURNS TO ENGLAND
TO PROMOTE INOCULATION
Even though though Lady Mary had the answer to help stop the spread of smallpox in England, her path to success was not an easy one and she was met with much hostility. Please continue reading here to find out what happened.
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PRAYER RUGS
Prayer rugs are usually described as mats to be used specifically for prayer and may be handwoven as well as machine made. (For this article, we will be concerned with handwoven prayer rugs.)
Muslims and Coptic Christians are those most likely to use a prayer rug. These rugs are usually very delicate and intricately woven. Many are silk, but many other materials may be found in their construction as well. Collectors who value them use them primarily as wall art.
The prayer rug can serve as a temporary place of worship whether in or outside a mosque or church. It is a portable sacred ground that can be used at any time, isolating worshipers from their immediate surroundings and transporting them symbolically somewhere else.
WHEN DID THE USE OF MATS OR RUGS FOR PRAYER BEGIN?
The Prophet Muhammad started the practice of using a mat for prayers. He used mats made of palm fronds. Over the next few centuries, the practice became so popular that by the 14th century travelers were reportedly carrying rugs for Salat, the ritual prayer of Muslims, performed five times daily in a set form.
Muslims lay their rugs on the ground or floor for the Salat prayer and once done, the rugs would have to be immediately folded and put away until the next use. This helps ensure cleanliness, although cleanliness is not often an issue because the one pre-requisite for the performance of Salat is cleanliness itself!
Early Muslim leaders would have their prayer rugs customized by the greatest artists in court. The prayer rugs began to be used as a symbol of power and used as gifts as well. This practice thrived under the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal dynasties. These rugs became very precious and were thought of as a national treasure. They were traded and used as items of ordination.
The early prayer rugs were so precious that even though they became associated with Islam, they even found their way into Christian churches. Saxon churches, parish storerooms, and museums safeguarded about 400 Anatolian rugs, dating from the late 15th to the mid-18th century in Transylvania. They form the richest and the best-preserved body of prayer-format rugs of the Ottoman period outside Turkey. Their removal from the commercial circuit and the fact that they were used to decorate the walls, pews, and balconies, but not on the floor, was crucial for their conservation over the years.
Those early prayer rugs, created in a world that was spiritually different from Christianity and salvaged and maintained by the Reformed churches, confirms the capacity of oriental rugs to bridge different cultures as well as the traditional religious tolerance of the Transylvanians.
DESIGN OF PRAYER RUGS
The particular design of a prayer rug is and was based on the village it came from and its weaver. The rugs are usually decorated with many beautiful geometric patterns and shapes. Whatever the design, age, color, and size, a prayer rug remains one of the most cherished items in the home.
The Significance of the Mihrab or Niche
The design of prayer rugs is characterized by a mihrab (niche or arched doorway) at one end, representing the mihrab or niche in every mosque, a directional point to direct the worshiper towards Mecca.
The niche is where a Muslim places his head during prayer. Some rugs have an actual representation of a Mihrab, while others are a bit more abstract. It is interesting that all Muslims must know the direction towards Mecca from their home or from where they are while traveling.
The Armenians have a prayer rug of their own. Being Christian, the prayer niche intended to honor Mecca is not used. However, many of the rugs are asymmetrical with a specific top and bottom. The Armenians wove their rugs as a gift to the church rather than actually use them during praying.
Design of the Mihrab
The mihrab design denotes Islamic architecture.
Turkish prayer rugs typically have stepped mihrabs. In Anatolia (Turkey), the doorway of the niche is a more complex architectural structure with triple arches and a higher central unit supported by paired columns. This type of structure most likely was inspired by Roman architecture.
Persians have softer, more curvilinear mihrab designs. In Persian prayer rugs the arch is usually supported by two columns, in which foliage rooted in the ground connects symbolically to the sky.
Mihrabs in Caucasian and Turkoman rugs have more geometric, rectilinear designs.
In general, the nomads use a sharp point and the city weavers weave an elaborate domelike shape.
Caucasian rugs were produced by nomads who lived in tents in desert regions. The absence of architecture in their visual repertoire led to the production of carpets with more abstract motifs. They feature geometric, stylized arch shapes, combined with the position of the worshipers’ hands.
Some rugs have a mihrab at both ends, which is defined as a double prayer design. This design is occasionally seen in Persian rugs and in older antique Caucasian rugs but is more common in Turkish prayer rugs.
Decoration of the Space Inside the Mihrab (Niche)
To continue reading prayer rugs, their design elements and prayer rugs today with photos, please click here.
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DAGESTAN ORIENTAL RUGS
LOCATION
Dagestan oriental rugs (Daghestan) were one of the notable Northeastern Caucasus antique rugs and were closely related to the other rugs in that area, such as the Kuba and Derbend, as well as the Shirvan rugs of the Southern Caucasus. (Other notable rugs of the Southern Caucasus region were the Kazak, Karabagh, Gendje, Moghan, and Talish.)
As with many of the Caucasus area rugs, Dagestan rugs were often mislabeled as coming from a major collecting point for rugs, such as Derbend, rather than from the actual area in which they were woven.
Those rugs actually woven in Dagestan tended to be finer than the Kazak rugs of the Southern Caucasus region, but were not as fine as the rugs from the Northeastern Kuba region.
HISTORY
Dagestan can be translated as the 'land of the mountains.' During the 13th to the 19th century, the Dagestan area was Persian. Thus, the rug designs were close to those of Persian rugs.
Dagestan is a republic of Russia located in the Northern Caucasus mountains, bordered on the East by the Caspian Sea and by Azerbaijan in the South. It is a land of very long and better winters with some of the most beautiful scenery that can be found in the Caucasus area. The capital is Makhachkala.
Because of its isolated location, it was not until the 1860s that Russia began to invade the area. What followed was a bitter war that lasted for more than 35 years as the Dagestan people, consisting of a wide range of ethnic groups, rose up (although futilely) to fight the Russians. Because of this war, many of the people moved to what is modern day Turkey and Iran.
When the Russians set up their administrative districts, they combined the mountainous area of what is now Dagestan with the flat area near the sea known as Derbend (Derbent), and called the entire area Dagestan.
Today, although Russian is the official language, there are more than 30 commonly spoken local languages. Unfortunately, this region is a very heterogeneous, ethnically diverse, and unstable area.
CONSTRUCTION OF DAGESTAN ORIENTAL RUGS
The antique Dagestan oriental rugs had wool foundations. The warp (up and down cords) were most often gray wool but goat hair was sometimes used for warp threads as well. The weft (side to side cords) could be different colors such as rusty red/brown, blue or white.
An identifying feature common to these rugs was the deeply ribbed appearance on their backs. This was the result of the use of extreme warp depression. (Depressed warps occur when the wefts are pulled tightly from either side, rather than put in with minimal tension. The result is the displacement of the warps into 2 levels.)
The knot was the symmetrical Turkish or Ghiordes knot. The pile was always wool.
The sides would have a fine selvage, usually colored and made of extra threads.
The number and colors of selvages often can be an identifier to the area of origin.
The ends were finished in a narrow woven selvage followed by a knotted fringe.
The antique Dagestan rugs had soft, varied colors, typically blues, reds, yellows, and greens as well as highlights in rare colors such as golden saffron and apple green. A Dagestan rug from the 19th as well as the early 20th century would typically favor shades of blue rather than red.
DESIGN OF DAGESTAN ORIENTAL RUGS
To see examples with photos and to learn more about Dagestan oriental rugs, please continue reading here.
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DERBEND ORIENTAL RUGS
LOCATION
Derbend oriental rugs (Derbent, Derabend) are a type of Northern Caucasus rug made in and around the city of Derbend (Derbent) in the upper northeast corner of what is now the Russian Republic of Dagestan. The Republic is bordered on the East by the Caspian Sea and on the South by Azerbaijan.
The port of Derbent (as it is now called) is Russia's southernmost city and may very well be the oldest city in Russia as well. Its strategic location, occupying a narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, has for centuries made it vulnerable to many different conquerors and cultures. These have included the Persian, Arab, Mongol, Timurid, Shirvan, and Iranian kingdoms. The 1813 Treaty of Gulistan put the city into Russian hands.
When the Russians set up their administrative districts, they combined the mountainous area of what is now Dagestan with the flat area near the sea known as Derbend (Derbent), and called the entire area Dagestan.
Today, although Russian is the official language, there are more than 30 commonly spoken local languages. Unfortunately, this region is a very heterogeneous, ethnically diverse area and can tend to be unstable.
WEAVING IN THE CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS
Weaving in the Caucasus regions can be traced back as far as the Bronze age. Along with the Derbend oriental rugs, other notable rugs from the Northern Caucasus region include the Kuba and the Dagestan.
Antique rugs from these regions were often mislabeled as coming from major collecting points, rather than the actual area where they were woven, making positive identification difficult.
CONSTRUCTION OF DERBEND ORIENTAL RUGS
Derbend oriental rugs share many of the general features of the Dagestan rugs but are typically much bolder and more crude. They also are larger in size, are more coarse, have longer pile, fewer colors, and figures are not clearly defined.
Foundation
The warp (up and down cords) and weft (side to side cords) are usually wool but the Turkoman influence on the Derbend area resulted in goat's hair being used for the warp in many of the rugs (rather than wool) giving the rugs a wilder appearance with a darker hue.
Pile
The pile is wool and, as mentioned above, it is usually longer than the other rugs in the area.
Knot
The knot is the symmetrical or Turkish knot.
Sides
The sides of the Derbend oriental rugs are overcast, some with several colors of yarn.
Ends
The ends are typically finished with 4 rows of knots in the solid selvage where the fringes grow out. Often, however, the warp and weft are woven together in a broad web (also borrowed from their Turkoman neighbors).
DESIGN OF DERBEND ORIENTAL RUGS
As mentioned above, the Derbend oriental rugs followed many of the general features of the Dagestan oriental rugs, such as the use of lattice patterns and geometric flowers.
There can be a main design with a large star (such as an elongated Yomud star) or some other geometrical figure which may be repeated 3 or 5 times diagonally on a field of blue or red. Figures on a blue field will often have predominantly red and saffron yellow colors. If the field is red, the figures will usually have blue and yellow colors.
The latch-hook motif can be an important part of the design.
Border stripes are clearly defined as in most of the other Caucasian rugs.
The Derbend oriental rugs have a natural sheen or luster. This is a characteristic of many of the Caucasian rugs. It may come from the yarn being rubbed under the coarse woolen socks of the weavers or it may be a result of the yarn being dyed without washing out the natural oil from the wool, making the yarns spread out into a cluster of fibers which reflect the light.
DERBEND ORIENTAL RUGS TODAY
To continue reading about Derbend oriental rugs, please continue reading here.
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