| | Milas carpets are Turkish carpets that bear characteristics proper to the district of Milas in Mugla Province in southwestern Turkey. They are also termed as Ada Milas, Patlicanli, Cingilli Cafer, Gemisuyu, Elikoynunda depending on the style, colors and other characteristics. Their designs and motifs bear the traces of history. | | | 
| | Milas is one of the oldest settlements of the Turkomen tribes. The region has retained its historical characteristics in custom, tradition and clothing. It is generally admitted that tradition of carpet business came into existence in the 16th century
starting with the weaving of “seccade", prayer rugs which are smaller in dimension. By the 18th century and the 19th century, two types of Milas carpets, classical (traditional) and baroque, could be distinguished on the basis of their colors and designs.
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Classical ones are Milas prayer rugs, with a usually rhombic niche ("mihrâb") in their fore. The inner frame of this niche is garnished with plant motifs and above the niche is a specially designed field called âlem, with references to heavenly promises. The type called "Ada Milas" is one of the oldest examples of classical Milas carpets. The name may have derived, according to different versions, from the queen Ada of Caria, a native of this very region and a contemporary of Alexander the Great, or from a hypothesis according to which this type of rugs was first woven by immigrants from the island of Istankoy (Cos), "ada" meaning "island" in Turkish, or from the stylized carnation bouquets (another signification of the word "ada") sometimes depicted as placed on a branch around the rug.
Many other such stylizations, such as cat's paws, soles, notches, always depicted in an abstract manner, exist. These side decorations always follow a repetitive order around the circumference of the rug, and their row is called a "water bed" ("su yatagi"). |
Baroque style Milas carpets bear the echoes of the European influence densely introduced in the art and architecture of the Ottoman Empire starting with the reign of the Sultan Abdulmecid I in early 19th century. In these, zigzagging flower designs replace the orderly and abstract motifs of classical Milas rugs. |
Yet another group of Milas carpets are the ones referred to as "medalled". These carpets are in various types such as square, rectangular and hexagonal. Milas carpets that are produced in the village of Karacahisar near Milas, and also called Karacahisar carpets, are examples for this category. Karacahisar prayer rugs are characterized by a centrally situated and larger field called "belly" ("gobek") with medal-like designs around, as well as abstract patterns of leaves and branches which are woven along the sides of the carpet. They are woven on a bed of white and red, and known to be lasting carpets made of sheep’s wool woven in a tighter manner. Carpet looms, where Milas carpets with or without niche mostly having brown-yellow tones, densely exist especially in the region between Milas and Bodrum. | |
As of the 18th century and 19th century, only wool and madder (natural dye) have been used in Milas carpets. Also today, real Ada Milas carpets are made by using natural dyes. The yellow is obtained from leaves of peach and apricot trees, the distinctive reddish brown from Erica vulgaris (the typical plant of Aegean), the brown from walnut leaves, the very dark, brownish yellow from acorns, the dark green from mint, and the black is obtained by leaving the wool in mud for a week. Especially the color having red-brown-yellow tones obtained from Erica vulgaris has been the trade mark of products from this region since the ancient age and its history dates back to works remaining from the Carians, the inhabitants of the same region in antiquity.
| | Karacahisar (near Milas) and Gereme (on the coast) carpets and rugs are the two most frequently woven Milas carpet and rug types in our day, each type considered as the specialty of a different group of villages. | The villages which regularly weave Milas carpets are mainly, but not exclusively, situated in the south of Milas, such as Karacahisar, Oren (Gereme), Comakdag, Dorttepe, Bozalan, Ikizkoy, Pinarkoy, Mezgit, Gurcegiz, Akcakaya villages. In Bozalan, Gokbel, Asagimazi villages, situated in the area between Milas and Bodrum, Karacahisar type comes into prominence. | Thanks to nearby Bodrum having become an international tourist venue and an intellectual center, Milas carpets and rugs occupy a privileged position among different Turkish carpet weaving traditions and they have entered into fashion trends both in and outside Turkey. Carpet business remains in activity in the region. |
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