ANTIQUE CARPETS
Prayer Namazlyk Carpet Piled . East Turkestan . Uyghurs . End of the XIX century RME , col . 16-206 the museum in January 1903 in the collection of ethnographic objects from the central provinces of Russia , donated by Emperor Nicholas II . The central field of the carpet is decorated with large bouquets of roses . A continuous curly branch of roses is woven on the middle wide border which surrounds the central field . A geometric ornament ( meander ) predominates with a few plant elements ( small flower rosettes ) on narrow borders . It is a lint-free carpet with weft hooks and one warp thread each . The weft is woolen threads , the warp is linen . Roses are the most common ornamental motif that has become popular in Russian carpet weaving since the second decade of the second half of the XIX century . Craftswomen collected them in bouquets , combined them into garlands , and supplemented the composition with buds and leaves . The colour palette consisted of white , pink , red , crimson . During these years , a new type of ornamental composition was developed . It was a magnificent bouquet ( or several smaller ones ) in the centre and a wide border with a garland around . The collection of the museum also contains lint-free carpets , plain or with simple geometric patterns , socalled poponka , pokryshka , postilka , which were an obligatory part of the peasant life . The collection also includes Russian high-pile carpets ( pile height 20-25 mm ), which were called terry ( in Russian makhrovy , which meant makor ( brush ). The patterns of terry carpets are extremely diverse : geometric motifs , plant , ornithomorphic , zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images . In the carpet ornament of the second half of the XIX century there were more loosely placed flowers and leaves on the plane . It was the impression that the images are illuminated by the sun , in vivid natural turns and movements .
Traditional red and green tones remained the leading colours in the colour scheme . A black background took an active role in the formation of the ornament . Fluffy and warm terry carpets were widely used by peasants and urban population as blankets , coverings for sledges , covers for chests and “ stacks ” ( piles of things ).
The collection of Ukrainian plain kilims reflects diversity of traditions . Kilims with geometric patterns were woven in all parts of Ukraine . Ornamental compositions presented geometrized flowers or simple geometric shapes arranged in rows on a monochrome background . These rows were separated by narrow monochrome stripes with decorative effect . A group of so-called “ flower kilims ” from the Poltava and Volyn provinces is especially fully represented in the collection . These kilims have the image of flowers and flower branches on a black or yellow background of the central field of the carpet , surrounded by a more or less wide border with floral designs . They are oriented vertically , i . e . their height is bigger than their width . A drawing often consists of individual elements located on a central background . This composition is not disturbed even by the presence in the centre of some additional drawing as the image of an eagle or a flowerpot with flowers . An example of such a composition is the XIX century kilim from the Poltava province , Zenkovsky district , Moshenskie Budishcha ( RME , col . 606-37 ). On a black-brown background of the central field , there is a rectangular yellow medallion with a stylized image of a two-headed eagle with a scepter and a power in its paws . There are also paired images of leaves , branches and birds . The rest of the central
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