sileh rug
- Also called:
- zili
- Related Topics:
- Caucasian rug
sileh rug, pileless floor covering from the southern Caucasus and parts of eastern Turkey. Formerly the term was used to refer to a type of flatweave whose name in its area of origin is vernehor verné, but it has now come to be used for a group of flatweaves, which may or may not be woven in two pieces and joined on the long axis. The design often consists of large square compartments, usually with small geometric figures diagonally arranged, bounded by stripes of smaller squares which contain lozenge figures. The design may be in weft float with portions of extra weft wrapping.
Those sileh from the Caucasus may have been woven in the vicinity of Şuşa, in Nagorno-Karabakh. A similar eastern Anatolian type usually shows a different range of colours.