Guide to Tekke Guls
Examples:
Gurbaghe Gul
This is one of the more common Tekke carpet minor Guls. It’s not as common as the Chemche Gul, but not uncommon.
Star and Octagon Border
“Star” is not quite right, but it is in common usage. Actually, the stars are floral forms that may be best called “rosettes”. This is an old border seen in carpets generally considered older.
Tekke Gul
This is the most common main Gul in Tekke main carpets. An important clue to estimating age is the height to width ratio. Those with a greater height to width ratio tend to be older.
The Gul has flattened out dramatically. I believe this was due to European market influences. For my purposes, I will consider Russian merchants as European. As European influence increased, there became market pressure to weave fine rugs. With the patterns staying the same, the weaver turned to fine yarn and more compression on the loom. Consequently, as the rugs got finer, the guls got flatter.
The Archetypal Gul
These guls are described by the great British rug expert Dr. Jon Thompson as the “Archetypal Gul”.
Miniature version of the Archetypal Gul
