1970s Vintage Ozipek Silk Hereke Textile Art - Mihrab Design

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This is an authentic & very good condition Turkish Hereke, made by the famed Ozipek workshop in 13/13 quality, or … Read more This is an authentic & very good condition Turkish Hereke, made by the famed Ozipek workshop in 13/13 quality, or 169 hand-tied knots per square centimeter. This equates to over 1000+ hand-tied knots per square inch, more than 10 times what you might find in an average-fineness flooring rug. It measures 47 cm by 35 cm, excluding the fringe. In upper-center of the rug you will see the designation "Hereke Ozipek" knotted into the pile in Arabic-Persian script, "Ozipek" being the workshop designation, while Hereke being the type and location designation.

The Ozipek workshop was never a true Hereke workshop, but rather a designation of a collective of weavers that combined resources for the purchase of silk, dyes, and designs. Sadly the workshop/collective is now defunct, but while the production lasted (1950s-1990s) they created by many estimates the finest silk textiles ever produced.

Authentic Turkish Hereke textiles, unlike Chinese replicas, are true hand-knotted pieces, made to amazing levels of fineness out of real Turkish (Bursa) silk, considered the best in the world. They are 100% silk, both the knotted pile and the underlying foundation. Sadly the Turkish production of these items is now almost gone, a victim of modernization in Turkey and the cheaper Chinese production crowding the marketplace. The quality of the finest Turkish pieces has never been equalled however, not in the dye, materials, or quality of workmanship, by Chinese, Indian, or even (some would argue) Iranian productions.

This particular Mihrab (prayer niche) design is popular in authentic Hereke pieces. In the center of the navy field it features a hanging mosque lantern, with three birds perched on a flowering bough. Framing are pillars with flowering vines, and a surrounding floral border in cream, light blue, navy, red, and green.

Authentic Turkish Herekes in good condition are increasingly rare and collectible. This middle production, likely from the time period of 1970-1980, is in very good condition, and is an excellent example of the best production years of the Turkish Hereke art. See less