Geometrical Principals in the White Background Rugs of Western Anatolia

The white background rugs of western Anatolia are classified into two groups of: Selendi and Transylvania. The Selendi rugs were initially created in a small city by the same name to be used in public bathhouses and consist of three designs of: Scorpion, Bird and Chintamani. It appears that the bird design is an abridged pattern of rose flowers and palm leaves taken from Chinese clouds; furthermore, they acquire dome-like borders, gothic or floral patterns and have a variety of colors compared to the Chintamani design. Scorpion designs with floral borders are created in smaller numbers and in maximum of seven colors. The general characteristics of Transylvania rugs is the presence of a one or two-sided mihrab design and a wide border with inscriptional patterns. These rugs are classified into four categories of “single mihrabs”, “two-sided mihrabs”, “simple insoles” and “column-based mihrabs”. Furthermore, as compared to Selendi rugs, they have a tighter weave and more rows. This paper is conducted via a descriptive and analytic method and the results show that in the mentioned rugs there is not much density of the patterns in the borders and inscriptions, also, golden proportions are more significant in the general outlook. Moreover, vertical guidelines in the inscriptions of the rug are lesser seen than lateral guide lines that cross the vertical lines.