Although no one knows presicely when and where the technique of weaving first started, There is no doubt that the weaving art, in general, started in Central Asia. A popular explosion coused the inhabitants of that area to migrate to the western parts of Asia in order to find more presperous land. These migrating tribes were caled yoruks or nomadic tribes. During their migrations, these nomads, who were exposed to severe weather conditions, learned to use goat hair in the making of their tents. Goat hair is longer and much siffer than sheep's wool. The flatweave technique was used in the making of nomadic tents. Over a period of time, the art of weaving improved and many items usefull in every day life were woeven-for example saddle bags for horses and camels that could be used in the transportation of many types of items. The Yoruks also wove kilims with goat hair and used them as warm blankets since the fibers were so long-just as in today's Siirt blankets.
As we mentioned before, no one knows exactly when and where the first knotted-pile carpets were woven; however the oldest "surviving" pile carpets was descovered in the grave of a Sycthian price in the Pazyryk valley of the Altai mountains. In Siberia by Russian archeologist (Rudenko) in 1947 and is presently displayed in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. The carpet was woven with the double knot and contains a surprising 347.000 knots per suquare meter (255 per square inch); it is 3.62 square meters (6 x 6.5 feet) and has been carbon dated to have been from the 5th. century B.C. It was loaded and subsequently flooded and froze to a wait discovery by Rudenko. The Pazyryk, or Altai carpet, is rather sophisticated, thereby showing that it is the product of a long history and tradition of weaving.
WORLD RENOWNED ARDABIL CARPET
one of the most important works of art. The Ardabil Carpet:
A Sixteenth Century Masterpiece the huge, twenty-three-by-thirteen-foot carpet
and its identical mate at the Victoria & Albert Museum in
London are among Iran`s most brilliant expressions of aesthetic and technical
achievement. These carpets were created in a period of cultural, political, and
religious flowering during the Safavid Dynasty (1501-1732), under whose rule
carpet weaving evolved from a rural craft into a national industry and internationally
acclaimed art form.
The renowned silk and wool masterpiece is so finely worked that it has
approximately 350 knots per square inch, 15.5 million knots in total, and probably
required six weavers working side by side at least four years to complete. The
Ardabil Carpets are predominantly deep blue, vibrant red, and soft yellow. Their
overall composition is based on a central medallion with radiating pendants and
quarter medallions repeated in the corners. The design is derived from bookbinding
and manuscript illumination, as is typical of many medallion carpets. The carpets,
however, include a unique design element: lamps are depicted projecting from the
top and bottom of the central medallion. Medallions and lamps are set against a
dense field of flowers growing from scrolling leafy vines.
The carpets were created in northwestern Iran, possibly Tabriz, and their name is
derived from the belief that the carpets were originally housed at the large shrine
complex honoring a Safavid Sheikh in the city of Ardabil.
That two identical Persian
court carpets have survived makes these carpets extraordinary, but rarer still is the
fact that they are signed and dated, says LACMA Costume and Textiles Curator
Dale Carolyn Gluckman. At one end is an inscription: a couplet from a Persian
ghazal, or ode, by fourteenth century lyrical poet Hafiz, just above a signature and
date. The following is woven into the carpet`s wool pile.
