Knotted carpets and other knotted textile floor coverings are composed of a taut warp around which the pile threads are knotted or twisted in a complete turn round at least one warp thread, the pile threads being kept in place by the insertion of tightly woven weft threads. This knotting or twisting characterises the articles of this heading.
The knots most commonly used are :(1) Ghiordes or Turkish knot : the pile thread is placed over two adjacent warp threads and its two ends brought back between these two threads so as to make a complete turn round them (see Figure 1), the two ends standing up to form the surface of the carpet. (2) Senna or Persian knot : the pile thread is twisted round one warp thread and then passed under a following warp thread (see Figure 2), the two ends standing up to form the surface of the carpet. In the Ghiordes and Senna knots the pile threads may also cover four warp threads.(3) Single warp knots in which each pile thread is twisted or knotted on to one warp thread; each pile thread makes one and a half turns round a warp thread (see Figure 3), the two ends standing up to form the surface of the carpet. |
There is thus a series of such knots, adjacent but completely independent of each other, over the whole width of the carpet thus covering the ground fabric. The heading also includes certain carpets made by knotting pile threads on to a loosely woven backing. Most knotted carpets, carpeting and rugs are hand made to size ready for use, with different coloured pile threads forming a pattern. They are, however, also made on mechanical looms and are then generally of more even texture and the selvedges are more parallel than in the case of those hand made. The pile threads are usually of wool or silk but sometimes of mohair or Kashmir (cashmere) goat hair. The ground fabric is generally of cotton, wool or hair in the case of hand-made carpets, and of cotton, flax, hemp or jute in the case of machine-made carpets. The products of this heading are normally used for floor covering but are also sometimes used otherwise for furnishings (e.g., as wall hangings or table covers) (see General Explanatory Note to this Chapter). These carpets remain classified here if they are edged with fringes (produced during weaving or added subsequently) or if they are otherwise finished for use. These products are mainly of Oriental origin (Iran, Turkey, Turkestan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India), or from North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt). The heading excludes carpets in which the pile threads are simply looped under the warp threads without making a turn round them (see Figures 4 and 5 below) (heading 57.02).
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