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If you wish to
determine the knot count in your rug, remember that each knot is "tied" or
wrapped around two warp yarns. (Some North African knots are exceptions,
while Tibetan structures are another matter entirely.) On a majority of
village or "tribal" rugs, each knot forms two "nodules" on the back of the
rug. If alternate warps are severely depressed, however, as in many
intricate workshop carpets, only one nodule may be visible on the carpet's
back, while the other is hidden. Narrow design elements, like
vertical borders or pattern outlines, are normally only the width of a
single knot so they are useful details to examine. If
both parts of each knot are visible, as in the black vertical outlines of
the Caucasian rug at the left below, we count the nodules in pairs to
determine the number of knots horizontally per inch. If only one nodule is
visible, as in the narrowest yellow or red vertical outlines of the
Persian workshop carpet at the right below, we can be sure that alternate
warps are completely depressed, and we are seeing only half of each knot.
Since the other part is hidden, we must count every nodule on the surface.
Rugs that are ribbed on the back have alternate warps just partly
depressed; on these we are likely to see one nodule clearly, but only part
of the other, and so must be more careful.
Counting knots
vertically is less problematic, since nothing is hidden. It's best to
focus on areas with lots of color changes, especially areas where the
color of the knots contrasts with the color of the wefts between them.
Knot density is cited in rug literature either in knots per square inch,
or knots per square decimeter. Check the density in more than one part of
your rug, since slight variations are likely.
Sometimes on a very tightly
woven rug it is difficult to see the wefts, let alone count rows of knots,
even under a magnifier. Here's a trick: If you mark a vertical inch on
the rug by sticking in two pins, then you can roll the rug slightly so
that the rows separate a bit, and you can count the rows of knots between
your pins.
In determining a rug's
origin, not only are its design, colors, and knotting significant, but
other subtle details are telling. The many different and distinctive ways
that selvages and end finishes are constructed. Knotting idiosyncrasies, variations in the
handling of wefts, and differences in the materials used by the weaver
offer further clues to a rug's provenance.
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