|
The Origin Of
The Oriental Rugs & Kilims
The origins of the hand
woven oriental pile rug in existence dates from the fourth century BC.
This hand woven oriental rug known internationaly as the Pazyrk Rug, this
oriental rug was discovered in 1949 frozen inside a burial mound in
Siberia. Many oriental rug experts believed the Pazyrk rug was woven in
the Caucasus where the countries of present day Turkey, Iran, armenia and
Azerbaijan. Other oriental rug experts note the similarity of the woven
motifs in the carpet to the architectural motifs found at Persepolis, the
ancient capital of Persia.
No matter where this interesting oriental rug was woven, the technique of
creating a soft pile by knotting and compacting wool yarn is the same
technique used by oriental rug weavers today. There exist various
fragments of oriental rugs and textiles, but the next oldest oriental rug
still in existence dates from the 13th century.
Ancient sources describe many historical oriental rugs. Alexander the
great found Cyrus the Greats tomb resting on fine oriental rug. Sui annals
state that woolen oriental rugs from Turkey , Persia, were being exported
to china during the 6th and 7th centuries.
When the Arabs conquered Persia the historical oriental rug of Khosrow
531-579 AD, the so called Spring Winter oriental rug woven with gold and
silver threads and sewn with jewels was taken as booty by the conquering
Arabs.
The Arab historian Tabari wrote that 60.000 soldiers were paid with
fragments of this oriental rug. Ancient accounts exist showing that mant
solders sold hheir fragments in the Damascus bazaar. The famed beauty of
the spring winter oriental rug served as inspiration for subsequent
oriental rugs for a tousend years. The theme of the oriental rug was
paradise. Paradise is a one filled with eternal moment.
|
