3'6" x 5'7" Turkish Hereke Pure Silk Rug | Gold & Silver Metal Threads | Signed | 10x10

This 3'6" x 5'7" Turkish Hereke is woven entirely in pure silk and enriched with genuine gold and silver metal threads, the technique reserved for the very top of Hereke production. The quality grade is 10x10, roughly 625 knots per square inch, and the workshop signed the piece in the corner. Never used and in excellent condition, it comes with a certificate of authenticity. Herekes of this grade are woven to be admired as much as walked on, and many owners choose to hang them as textile art.

Design and Motifs

A scalloped navy medallion floats at the center of a garden in full bloom: flowering branches, sprays of blossoms, and vase bouquets fill the ruby field in mirrored symmetry. Look closely and the garden is alive, songbirds perch among the branches in pairs, 2 facing the medallion from above, 2 standing together below it, more hidden along the sides. Deep navy spandrels with silver-ground cartouches anchor the 4 corners, and the main border carries alternating carnation fans and rosettes on navy between ivory guard bands. The metal threads are worked into the medallion, spandrels, and select blossoms, so the design literally glints as light moves across it. This density of drawing at this scale is exactly what the 10x10 grade exists for.

Color

The field is a saturated ruby red with the changeable, luminous quality only silk gives: it reads crimson from one end and deep garnet from the other as the pile catches the light. Against it, the palette stays soft and courtly, blush pink and ivory blossoms, olive gold foliage, and a rich navy that grounds the medallion, spandrels, and border. Threads of actual silver and gold shimmer through the composition, brightest in the medallion core and corner cartouches. The overall effect is jewel-box opulence handled with restraint, nothing garish, every color balanced against the red the way the great Ottoman court weavings managed it.

Origin

Hereke, on the Gulf of Izmit southeast of Istanbul, has been synonymous with the finest Turkish weaving since the Ottoman court established its imperial workshop there in the 1840s to weave for the sultan's palaces. The tradition never lowered its standard: pure silk pile on silk foundation, knot counts other weaving centers rarely attempt, and, on the most ambitious pieces, gold and silver metal thread brocading. A signed, 10x10 quality silk Hereke with metal threads sits at the summit of that tradition. These are the Turkish rugs collectors seek out, woven as heirlooms and passed down as treasure.