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.
 

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The Origin Of The Kilim I Weaves I Knotted Pile I Knot Counts I Turkish Kilims