KEMHA

Kemhas (velour) are expensive weavings called brocades by the Westerners and were very famous in the Ottoman territory in the 16th century. It is known that kemha looms were in Bursa and Amasya in early history. Later, it was also woven on palace looms in İstanbul. There are velvet and kemha sections in the plan of a weaving studio belonging to the İstanbul Palace. There are examples of Ottoman kemhas in world museums and church treasures. Church priests wore ceremonial clothes made of Turkish kemhas in the 16th century. In the sources, the local kemhas are mentioned with names such as dolabi, gülistani, and gülguni referring to the technical, pattern-related, and color-related features respectively, or with names denoting their place of origin such as Bursa, Eğin, Amasya kemha. Foreign kemhas are also registered with the names of Frengi (West) and Yezidi (Iran) with their origin names and varieties such as gilt and plain kemha. There is information about kemha in The Law of the Municipality of Bursa as “The material used for dolabi and yekrenk kemhas used to be 7000 wires…” and the other clues given by the sources are supplementary to the other information on this subject. Although kemha is a tough fabric, it is understood that from time to time, they cut back on materials and loose fabrics are produced, and that the weaver hardens the fabric by applying dough to the back of it in order to cover up his mistake. It is remarkable that in the 18th-19th centuries the quality of kemhas deteriorated as in other fabrics. The warp wires used in weaving decreased, the gold and silver wires were imperfect, and their amount in the weaving diminished. Among weavings, kemha is a multi-colored, heavy, ostentatious, tough fabric that is most suitable for the palace and the public. It was especially used as caftan and furnishing material. The wire used in weaving had a very important role for the quality of the fabric. The silver wire drawn in the Simkeşhanes (the bazaar of goldsmiths and silversmiths) was first gilded with gold with the help of mercury and then drawn. In order to determine the suitability of the wire for weaving, it was declared by a provision that this process should be carried out under the supervision of kemhacıbaşı (the head person in charge of kemhas). In kemhas, the weaving ground is generally woven in twill with satin and the weaving patterns are woven with different colored wefts tied in diagonal lines. The most common patterns used are Timurid style, saz style, flower style; japan quince, tangled embroidery scheme, the medallion pattern, the pomegranate pattern, and the crown motif in the medallion scheme. In kemha weavings, silk thread, gold-silver wire or thread is used. It is a multicolored fabric whose warp and weft are silk, top row weft is also reinforced with gold or silver thread. It is a compound weaving called Lampas by the Westerners in which two weaving techniques such as satin (atlas) and twill (dimi) are used together. The places in which kemha was woven were Bursa, İstanbul, Amasya, and Eğin