rug(part-made)
- Museum number
- Eu1971,01.129
- Description
-
A very long, narrow rug, known as a 'berber'. It is made of twill woven wool fabric, with structural loop pile on one side. There are wide, natural, cream-coloured bands (framed by much thinner brown/cream bands) alternating with wide black/cream bands (framed by thinner cream bands). The warp is made from cotton thread, which highlights the steep twill pattern when black weft is used. The warp ends and plied and knotted at the end. Most of the front of the rug is covered with black and cream loops, which are made of barely twisted, thick singles yarn, worked in two band widths. The loops are not knotted but merely form part of the weft. There are four picks (rows) of twill weave between each row of looped yarn. The donor states that this is just one-third of a much larger rug. This is indicated by the fact that a continuous brown and cream plaited braid (Egyptian plaiting) is sewn to each end of the rug, but only on one side.
- Production date
- 1875-1899
- Dimensions
-
Length: 376 centimetres
-
Width: 66 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Text from Eth Doc 1836 (entry 129): The cloth is part of a rug - only one piece of cloth, while the whole rug consists of three pieces of cloth. It is made of woollen yarn. The rug is called 'berber'. The name was derived from the weaving technique. In these parts of the country, the same technique was also used for the manufacturing of outer garments for men and women as well as for swaddling clothes for the fabric produced in this way has the quality of keeping the body warm. The rugs are usually woven in the natural colour of the wool Most often the margin is white while the borders are well-set with black stripes or alternating black and white stripes.
End of the C19th.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1971
- Acquisition notes
- Part of a collection of 347 items given by the Bulgarian Committee for Cultural Relations in 1971, together with a full list describing each item, its manufacture and usage, with general account of Bulgarian costume in the different regions (Eth Doc 1836, pp. 21-25); specific information is given under 'Curator's Comment'.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- Eu1971,01.129
