Textiles and carpets in Egypt

     Historians agree that the Egyptian civilization one of the earliest. Many cultures, Arts, and handcrafts flourished in Egypt at that time. One of them was the art of making textiles and Carpets which is existed in ancient Egypt 6000 years ago. That kind of handcraft art developed till our recent time.

 A summary about developing the Art of making textiles and Carpets in Egypt:-

(To prove that the art of textiles and carpets originated in Egypt)

The ancient Egyptians were the first in making textiles and Carpets. Egypt location played an important role in spreading that kind of art everywhere around the other civilizations. They used different kinds of yarns from linen and flax fibers as early as 6000 years ago. Thus all the people in pharaonic time wore woven clothes and delicate garments. A mummy wrapped in woven shrouds and dating about 5000 years ago which you can see in the Egyptian museum, in Cairo.

The very first looms used by the ancient Egyptians are:-

1. The horizontal floor-loom "from prehistoric time".
2. The vertical loom "introduced about 1700 BC".
3. The horizontal high-standing loom "much later".

(The two last ones are those mostly in use today)

This kind of horizontal loom is pictured in the rock-tomb of one of the princes of "Beni-Hassan" (about 2000 BC). In it scenes feature weavers and dyers alert working together.

In the Ptolemaic period that started about 300 B.C wool was introduced in abundance.

So the industry for wool developed and flourished in Egypt. Flat-woven tapestry carpets were made for local use.

In the Coptic period a great importance was given to weaving and carpets which needed remodeling of the shapes and designs as symbols for the new creed. Considerable stress was then set on tapestry in linen, wool and silk.

The fame of these textiles spread to far-away countries till one day "Louis XIV" of France heard of. He sent a delegation of experts to Egypt with instruction to study the procedure of the weft. After returning to France. Those experts began to work perfecting the technique then it was presented as the French "Au Busson".

The Islamic period follows from the 7th cent. The industry of making weaving and carpets flourished at that time. The designs drawn to reflect the Islamic art and beliefs. They used wool an silk.

The culmination was reached in the Mamlouk period (13th to 16th century).

When extremely tight knotted carpets were produced using wool, silk and even silver and gold yarn. In that period the handcrafts men could produce carpets that have never seen before  (concerning the accurate and tiny of the knots). They used 4 colors in their carpets green, red, yellow and blue. They also exported and spread their carpets abroad through caravans and markets. In the year 1940 historians discovered that the art of textiles and carpets conveyed to Syria in that period and there was no evidence about carpet production in all Syria at that time.

In the begging  of the 17th century Egypt was annexed to the ottoman empire. Shortly after the Turkish Sultan "Selim I" (in 1517) sent for Egyptian crafts men and for the spinning wool to be brought to the Turkish capital Constantinople. Thus the Turkish carpets spread all over the surrounding by using the Egyptian skills at that time.

In the 19th century (Modern Egypt) the industry of handmade carpets greatly developed till our recent time. The crafts men used natural raw material of wool, silk and cotton. Several millions of mulberry trees were planted along the irrigation canals to produce natural silk. They also dyed their raw materials by using natural dyer's weeds (In the same method like the ancient Egyptians).

In 1973 a great opportunity for free trade opened up. The great expansion in trade led to more and more polishing of traditional skills, also in weaving and carpet knotting, simply because there was a market again. Local Egyptian artists and professors of fine arts put their minds together to allow an artistic evolution in these traditional crafts.

One may view the activity in the field of rugs in many places, most well-known are those carpet schools on the sakkara road which leads to one of the most famous archaeological sites. One of them is Sakkara Carpet School which is considered the first Carpet School established in this area. There children learn and produce mostly naïve simple tapestry, rugs, kelims and carpets which became an important world-wide export products. They draw the designs from their imagination and reproduce what they see in nature.

Some very skilled workers give very tight knotted wool and silk carpets. What is quite important notice, is that the workers use for the silk carpets only one thread (single knot). Thus it shows very tiny knots, giving minute details, so appear the most delicate shapes. Consequently its value rises.