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Prayer Rug
Quba (Kuba) District, Caucus Mountains, Azerbaijan
1850-1900
- Medium
- Wool; plain weave with supplementary wrapping wefts forming cut pile "Turkish" (Ghiordes) knots
- Classification
- Textile
- Dimensions
- 160.3 × 124.7 cm (63 × 49 1/8 in.)
- Culture
- Caucasus
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- Gift of Minnie L. Patterson
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The representation of hands on either side of the arch is found almost exclusively on Caucasian prayer carpets. They are traditionally associated with the placement of the faithful's hands during prayer. Additional symbolism has developed, based on Koranic references to the Hand of Allah, which can be associated with the magic number five, derived from the five basic beliefs of Islam, the five daily prayers, and the five members of the Prophet's family: Mohammed, Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husain.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
