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Siirt kilims are a jewel of Turkish weaving. Their eldritch appeal is summoned by the combination of unusual materials and a unique weaving process.
‘Butterfly’ Kilim in Silky Brown Mohair, Siirt (c. 1950)
Kilims in the Siirt group are highly collectible village rugs woven entirely of silky mohair in a pleasing array of natural cream and brown hues.
A Simple Village Rug Woven of Mohair, not Wool
These rugs are named for Siirt, a hot, dry steppe region in eastern Anatolia, south of Lake Van. Its rocky plateaus are drained by winding river valleys that feed the Tigris River before watering the Fertile Crescent downstream.
A trading post famous for its melons, pomegranates, and—above all—its grapes, Siirt has a legacy of pluralism and cross-cultural contact that suffered greatly during the bloody twentieth century.
A Simple Village Rug Woven of Mohair, not Wool
Siirt kilims remain one of the region's most notable exports, and they are a distinctive vernacular weaving style. These rugs are made from lustrous hair shorn from the angora goat, yielding a fiber known to the fashion consumer as mohair.
Whereas the sheep’s wool used for the production of most rugs is springy and coils tightly, mohair is wavy, smooth, and relatively flat. As a textile fiber, mohair has a lustrous shine and is pleasantly soft to the touch. A pervasive belief among Turkish nomads ascribes mohair the power to repel scorpions, an unwelcome home invader in much of Turkey's dry eastern steppes.
Common Motifs, Use, and Eras of Production
In general, Siirt kilims hew to a minimalist aesthetic featuring large blocks of caramel-colored or dark brown mohair.
Paired with their lightness and mohair’s silky finish, this striking visual quality makes Siirt rugs popular as decorative throw blankets, bedspreads, and wall art. However, more robust pieces are suitable for floor use with a rug pad, although use in high-traffic areas is not recommended.
These rugs were made primarily for domestic and household use, rather than for commercial sale. As a result, their motifs are often more expressive and personal than those found in weavings made to be sold. In general, Siirt rugs follow a simple compositional formula, featuring a plain open field anchored by a small central medallion.
Older examples, however, tend to be far more eccentric and collectible. While newer pieces often include standardized motifs like squares or diamonds, earlier rugs may feature human figures or text—such as place names, initials, or dates—that reflect moments of personal significance to the weaver.
A Unique Brushing Technique
Neither entirely smooth like conventional flatweaves, nor dense like a knotted pile carpet, Siirt rugs are the product of a unique weaving technique.
These pieces are actually flat-woven, as a traditional kilims. The weaver creates a short, soft nap on the surface by brushing the face of the completed flatweave with a metal comb or a teasel, the dried head of a flowering perennial. Dragging the brush across the rug face catches individual fibers, pulling them gently and lending the textile added softness.
A similar process is used today by Scottish cashmere mills to give their luxury scarves a distinctively lofty hand, characterized by the Alex Begg mill as “a glossy ripple” finish.
Related Processes in Iran
While Siirt is by far the most prolific source of weavings of this type, similar pieces are known among Iran's Arab populations. Until the 1960s, the Arab tribes of southwest Iran’s Khuzestan Province produced nearly identical pieces woven of goat hair on cotton warps (Parviz Tanavoli, Persian Flatweaves, 2002, p. 164-69).
These Arab weavings are rarely encountered, and they are virtually unknown to rug collectors or the wider market. The Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli has termed these rugs bozvashm, meaning “goat-like.”
Khuzestan and Siirt share are separated by some 900 km of desert. It is, nonetheless, possible that the unique style of weaving diffused by traveling along the Tigris River. Siirt sits adjacent to the river’s course near its headwaters in upland Anatolia, while Khuzestan lies downriver near its mouth at the Persian Gulf. It is also possible that both societies independently arrived at the style, which is both visually attractive and of high value domestically.
