Mahal is a name that is probably derived from the village of Mahallat in the Arak region of Iran. Mahals encompass the colours and patterns sought after by many designers.
Malayer is a town of perhaps 50'000 inhabitants lying southeast of Hamedan on the road to Arak. Its position in relation to these towns is significant, for its carpets have characteristics of both Sarouk and Hamedan. Several villages in the area also produce rugs.
Most Malayer rugs are single wafted; resulting in the white cotton warps being visible on the reverse. Unlike Hamedan rugs, which tend to be geometrical in design with large blocks of colour, Malayer rugs are more delicate, often with central medallions. The borders are particularly attractively drawn, often with a cluster of white motifs following the line of the main tendrils (or the outline of the central medallions) giving a lace effect. The village of Tafresh, to the northeast of Malayer in Arak province, produces similar carpets. Jozan and Manizan produce perhaps the best rugs in the Malayer area: they are double wafted and more rigid, and to a great extent use natural dyes. Only smaller sizes (Dozars, Zaronim and Pushtis) are produced. Other weaving centers, which come within the general category of Malayer, are Suzani.
Mashad derives its name from the Arabic 'Al-Mashad' - mausoleum; this gives us a hint of as to the origins of the city - it is an important place of Shi'a pilgrimage. It contains the tombs of the Imam Reza, and of Harun-al-Rashid, patron of Omar Khayam. Its mosque, with its tomb chamber surmounted by a gilded dome and line inside with mirror glass, is only one of the countless ancient buildings dating from the sixteenth century or earlier: there are colleges, bath houses, caravanserais, mausoleums etc. Since the city, with its population of perhaps two million, is situated close to the Afghan frontier, the population is mixed and includes Afghans, Turkmen's, Indians and Jews.
Although now near the frontier, Mashad's position was at one time more central, when the Persian Empire extended further east. It was part of a network of cities extending into central Asia: Merv, Tashkent, Samarkand and Herat. As a result the carpets of Mashad are subtle and sophisticated. They can be compared to those of Kerman and Isfahan, but are distinguishable by the use of a different shade of red - a purplish red derived from cochineal rather than madder which is more usual elsewhere. The Designs are as intricate as those of Kerman, though, like Isfahan carpets, they are based ultimately on classical prototypes. They are often signed, in a cartouche in the middle of the border at one end. A peculiarity of Mashad carpets is that they often introduce a narrow band at the end when they begin to weave, with all the colours they plan to use. The most famous weaver, working at the turn of the century, was Amoghli.
Milas rugs are come under Western Anatolian carpets. Milas (also Milas) lies between Mugla and Kusadasi in the south-western coastal region of the Aegean. Milas carpets are among the most sought after Anatolian carpets, owing to their high quality, with medium to fine knotting and natural colours.
They are divisible into three basic types: The Milas prayer rugs with its characteristically gathered mihrab shape; The Ada (island) Milas from the area of Karaova, the field of which often displays vertically twisted polygons; and The Rare Medallion Milas whit its mostly yellow-gold medallion on a red back ground.
Any description of carpet production in Mongolian should be considered purely speculative The environmental, social, economic, and artistic conditions for a local production certainly exit: Mongolian is a very high, dry plateau inhabited by pastoral tribes of Mongol and Turkic origin, and similar groups in other areas are known to weave carpets. Yet no existing piece of any significant age can safely be classified as Mongolian, nor is there any literary or archaeological evidence for carpet production. Moreover, most of the so-called Mongolian saddle bags are now being more accurately attributed to Ningxia. They, together with pieces of monasteries, were exported to Mongolia in great numbers as indicated by the numerous Ningxia column rugs with Mongolian inscriptions.
Years ago women had more time to create colourful rugs and carpets, mixing different plants from the Atlas Mountains to find a special colour. They tried to create a piece of art better than their neighbour. Rugs and carpets had many functions within the family. The rugs were not only used as cover, but as an element of prestige between the tribes, a means of communication to express suffer and harshness of the countryside. While reading the carpets made throughout Morocco, you can live the saga of the old generations, their life style, values, and morals. The geometric forms, and the choice of colour reflect the mood of the woman-artist who put this combination together. These enigmatic, geometric forms will be found in the old jewelleries and old Kasbahs, which remains the clues of unsolved civilization.
In the high mountains of the Middle Atlas live Berber tribes whose flat weaving have a definite tribal authenticity, particularly the tent bands for their black goat-hair tents, the hanbels (blankets), and the herdsmen's cloaks, all of which retain traditional patterns of intricately interlocked diamonds.
Mud and its neighbouring Birjand are two small adjacent towns south of Mashad in the province of Khorassan. They have no buildings of interest, and their chief product apart from carpets is barberry, used when dyeing with cochineal. Several villages in the surrounding area, in the Rud-e-Shahrud valley, also produce carpets.
The carpets of the area are characterized by consistency of design and quality. They always have a ground of the Mahi or Herati design (the town of Herat lies some 300 km north-east in Afghanistan) on a cream background, and sometimes there will be a circular medallion and corners. The predominant colours are ivory, blue, red and brown. The warps and wefts are cotton, the pile wool. The borders are a version of the traditional Persian turtle border. All sizes are produced. The area is exceptional for regularly weaving square carpets of 2 m x 2 m: only Mud, Kerman and Abadeh make this size frequently. Because of their extreme regularity, Mud carpets are frequently copied in India. Other weaving centres which come within the general category of Birjand are Khorassan, Kashmir, Sazevar and Semnan.
Semi-nomadic and settled tribesmen of Indo-European, probably Pashtun ancestry, who speak Farsi (Persian) and mainly inhabit western Afghanistan. They were noted especially for kilims and fairly long flat woven and semi-pile dastarkans, but also now produce Balouch-style pile rugs, featuring a wide range of designs in a palette dominated by black or blue-black, dark red, deep brown, and yellow and brown ochre, offset by paler reds and blues. They are closely associated with an all-over scheme based on concentrically expanding hooked-diamonds or zigzags. Mushwanee rugs are generally of excellent quality and are very high in demand as they give a tribal look in the house and are ideal for the heavy foot traffic area, made with wool on wool embossed village design and are 100% hand knotted.
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