A GHIORDES NICHE RUG, WEST ANATOLIA

Burckhard Collection, Alexandria

Private Collection, Switzerland

Herrmann notes in regard to this rug ”So far the different shapes of the niche or prayer carpets have not yet been discussed. The niches basically meant a doorway, however the original meaning disappeared when renaming this design a niche for prayer as mentioned in a 14th century poem for Sultan Uways. The gateway shown in this carpet is defined by a double triangle ∆ 3:4:5 which equals the larger angle of ∆ 7:24:25. The mathematical identity is the origin to mark the northern/southernmost major standstill of the moon in the night sky at the Pleiades and the Hyades in the Taurus constellation, the Golden Door of the ecliptic where the path to the other world turns North. The carpet shows a 18th century representation at its best, with the empty dark blue field in the colour of the moon. Once in a house of a Swiss cotton producer in Alexandria, in the first half 20th century.”