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Prayer Rug

A work made of wool; plain weave with supplementary wrapping wefts forming cut pile ("turkish"/ghiordes) knots.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of wool; plain weave with supplementary wrapping wefts forming cut pile ("turkish"/ghiordes) knots.

Date:

second half of 19th century

Artist:

Caucasus, Kuba District

About this artwork

The representation of hands on either side of the arch is found almost exclusively on Caucasian prayer carpets. They are traditionally associated with the placement of the faithful’s hands during prayer. Additional symbolism has developed, based on Koranic references to the Hand of Allah, which can be associated with the magic number five, derived from the five basic beliefs of Islam, the five daily prayers, and the five members of the Prophet’s family: Mohammed, Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husain.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Textiles

Title

Prayer Rug

Place

Caucasus (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1850–1900

Medium

Wool; plain weave with supplementary wrapping wefts forming cut pile ("Turkish"/Ghiordes) knots

Dimensions

160.3 × 124.7 cm (63 × 49 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Minnie L. Patterson

Reference Number

1950.1491

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/72815/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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