Unique Semi-Antique Afyon Prayer Kilim with Multiple Mihrabs – Turkey
This captivating semi-antique Afyon kilim from Turkey features a rare and intriguing design with multiple mihrabs, or prayer niches. The weaver has created three similarly shaped mihrabs, each distinguished by its own unique color palette and arrangement of decorative motifs. The variations reflect not only technical skill but also a joyful, creative spirit.
Full of vibrant color and personality, this kilim radiates the playful energy of a weaver who clearly delighted in both form and hue—a striking and expressive example of Anatolian textile art.
Material: 100% hand-spun sheep wool and goat for the black area
Size: 180×104 cms
Origin: Afyon, Turkey
Date of weaving: 1960s
The Mihrab
This word refers to the niche in mosques that indicates the direction of the Kaaba, toward which believers must prostrate themselves. This might suggest that the symbol of the same name is an Islamic creation. Adapted to weaving, it characterizes prayer kilims and rugs, which believers lay out on a clean surface, taking care to orient the pointed end of the mihrab toward Mecca. There are also multi-niche prayer kilims, called saf, intended for collective practices.
However, we favor the hypothesis that the mihrab predates Islam and symbolizes the sacred mountain, a concept present in all mythologies. The various representations of the motif would then be progressive adaptations influenced by contact with new cultures.
A Protective Motif with Exorcising Power
Inaccessible peaks have always stirred the imagination with their majesty—and, when volcanic, with their activity.
Identifying the mihrab with the sacred mountain leads us to classify this motif among protective symbols with exorcising power, as well as among those symbolizing fertility. Yet we cannot rule out the possibility that the mihrab is a product of later beliefs, which would give woven textiles bearing this motif a cultic or religious function.
“Symbolique des kilims”, Ahmet Diler
| Weight | 2.8 kg |
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