| Early on I became fascinated
by Borchelu Rugs. Partially because of their
ethnographic significance but also because I
found them attractive. I suspect that there are
far more on the market but that most of them are
misidentified. I have seen them called everything
from a Hamadan
Rug to Bijar
Carpets Carpets. I remember Uncle Jimmy
Keshishian saying that there are not more than a
dozen guys in the country who can write the tags
and all the rest just read the tags. Every time I
look at a tag I feel a twinge of guilt. |
 Antique
Floral Borchelu Rug
|
In P.
R. J. Ford's book Oriental
Carpet Design Ford
mentioned that the Borchelu were Mongol. That peaked my
curiosity. If they are Mongol than I should be able to
identify them since Mongols are well documented. Here is
what I found:
In about 1179 a young man who would grow up to be
Cinggis Qahan (Ghengis Khan) was aided by the son of the
Chieftain of the Arulat clan. The young man was Bo'orcu.
He became one of Cinggis Qahan's Dorben Kulu'ud (Great
Warriors). In the Yuan
ch'ao pi-shih, quatrain 205, it is recorded that
later in life Cinggis Qahan said "Let Bo'orcu govern
the ten thousand of the right hand which take the Altai
as pillow." In other words the Qahan gave a
proto-tribal unit to a key general. I am certainly no
linguist but I translate Borchelu as Bo'orcu Lu or the
people of Bo'orcu. The Lu of Bo'orculu as coming from the
same root as the Mongol term Ulus which means the land,
animals, and people, that a that an IL or tribal group
controls. These people became known as the Bo'orculu or
people of Bo'orcu. Over the years Bo'orculu becomes
Borchelu. So if Ford
is correct and I believe he is then the Borchelu were
Mongol than they must be descended from the Horde of
Bo'orcu.
The Borchelu lived for many centuries in the area
where Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia come together. The
Borchelu later migrated south when that area was taken by
the Russian Czar. When the Borchelu moved south the
Armenians moved north. The red wefted Bordjalou rugs that
we know from that area are actually Armenian rugs. This
was a result of the Armenians moving in to abandoned
Borchelu villages.
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Borchelu Rug
structure
Structure: Asymmetrical knot open
left. 56 to 99 per square inch.
Yarn Spin: Z.
Warp: Cotton, white.
Weft: Cotton 1 shot, white.
Pile: 2 Wool singles.
Ends: Warp fringe.
Selvages: overcast with wool,
blue is common red is slightly less common.
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Similar Rugs
The distinctive identifying feature to these rugs is
that they are single wefted. Hamadan
rugs and Malayer
Rugs also use a single weft but they all use
symmetrical knots. So if it looks like a Persian rug and
uses a single weft then think Hamadan or Borchelu. Then
use the knot type to tell you which it is.
Internet Resources for Borchelu Rugs
Borchelu
rugs for sale - Area Rugs, Iranian Borchelu Rug Gallery
Borchalu
Rug Early 20th C.
mahabad
rugs MAHABAD carpets SAVOJBOLAGH kurdish carpets rugs ...
www.PersianCarpetGuide.com
Copyright Barry
O'Connell 2004 - 2009.
Last revised: March 30, 2009.
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