(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Susanbar Aghamaliyeva
Carpet weaving is one of the ancient decorative applied works of
art of Azerbaijan. This kind of art, loved by the Azerbaijani
people, was passed down from generation to generation with great
care for many centuries. In order to supply their comforts the
people developed their primitive felting profession and later the
people began to weave different designs of colorful wool on the
felt.
Over the millennium felting had been promoted in home affairs
and different types of carpets, of which, bast mat, palaz, kilim,
sumakh, varni, shadda, zilli, chechim, and rugs appeared. In
Azerbaijan, carpet weaving was divided into Guba-Shirvan,
Ganja-Gazakh, and Nakhchivan- Tabriz groups and promoted. But what
a pity the Nakhchivan carpet weaving tradition, later on, was
forgotten, and carper products weaved in Nakhchivan were included
in the history by the name of the Tabriz carpet weaving schooling
and surely spread all over the world.
Investigations show that when speaking about carpet weaving
schooling one must consider that there is a lot of alikeness
between Tabriz and Nakhchivan weaving schooling. Nakhchivani
carpets differ from Tabriz carpets for certain technical
principles. They are primitive silhouette sketches, the thickness
of beam and argach threads, the thickness of noose, having
mythological lines on.
We see these descriptions on the monuments, in the architectural
examples, on grave tombs and other samples of art Usif ibn
Kuseyirarchitecturaltomb, Momuna khatun, about the XII century,
Gulustan monument of the XIII century and Karabaglar tomb of
multifaceted about the XIII-XIV centuries are individually carpet
designs are appeared of unequal geometric synthesis. Foreign
travelers in the Middle Ages coming to Nakhchivan, also merchants
and other people, had taken the expensive and antique carpets of
Nakhchivan to foreign countries and put them on sale as works of
art belonging to other nations.
Today in the museums where the pearls of worldwide fame, the
world civilization cultural samples are kept: the Louvre (Paris),
Vatican (Rome), Victoria and Albert (London), Metropolitan (New
York), Hermitage (St.Petersburg), Krakova (Poland), Topkapi
(Istanbul) and other popular museums, in the collections of
different people, together with Tabriz, Ganja, Gazakh, Guba,
Shirvan, Karabakh carpets also very ancients Nakhchivani carpets
are kept.
A carpet, called Ovchulug among Nakhchivan carpets, is very
distinguished. This carpet admires the people for its originality
and completeness, human and animal also ram descriptions on it.
Symbolic details included in the carpet thickness threads, lack of
noose, and geometric designs over it remind us of our forefathers
who were busy with hunting and predicting the centuries-long
history of Nakhchivan carpet weaving schooling. Carpets about
hunting also belong to Tabriz's carpet weaving schooling.
But the hunting motifs of Nakhchivan carpets are a bit different
from Tabriz carpets. Hunting motifs are reflected fully differently
in Tabriz carpets. Nakhchivan carpets are divided into two types
with six kesh sorts. They are“Irigul”,“Firizayi”,“Khankesni',
“Khankarvan”,”Dalali”,“Gushlu”. The other characteristic features
of Nakhchivan carpets are the length of the nooses, (10-12 mm), the
thinness of the noose thickness (1m2 90-160,000 nooses),
the thickness of the thread flowers being big and the concreteness
of geometric designs.
Nakhchivan carpets are mainly woven of spring-shorn wool.
Because spring wool is of long fibers and is very suitable for
spinning. One of the advantages of Nakhchivan carpets is that the
carpets weaved here were used of very qualified silken threads of
Ordubad. Such carpets were bought by travelers, merchants, and army
leaders of the“Silk Way '' very costly and put on sale in
different world markets more expensive. These carpets simply were
known as“Islam” carpets as they didn't have great importance for
the people who bought them, where they had been woven.
So the names of Nakhchivan carpets were known as Tabriz,
Ardabil, and Khorasan carpets. Today the very famous“Nakhchivan”
carpet which has incarnations in other regions of Azerbaijan
exhibited in the history museum of Iravan under the“Ijevan” carpet
of Armenians to the world audience. Today dozens of Nakhchivan
carpets are exhibited in the Nakhchivan State Carpet Museum,
Nakhchivan State History Museum, and other tens of museums.
Nakhchivan carpets as well as Azerbaijan carpets are divided
into piled and unpiled for preparation technology. The unpiled
carpets are very ancient compared to piled carpets, different
palaz, jejim, carpet, shadda, varni, zilli, sumag for their
characteristic design and picturesque. Piled carpets rich with
multi-compositional lines and rich ornaments motifs differ
especially. Their color palette is fitting to all colors of the
rainbow.
Names of carpets mainly link with the places of production.
Carpet weaving history is a very century long in Nakhchivan and at
present, this history is going on and carpet weaving traditions are
continued in different parts of Nakhchivan differently.
There is not a single village in Nakhchivan not to be busy with
any form of carpet weaving. The carpet weaving trade in Nakhchivan
is alive today and will be alive in the future as well. Because
there is great state care for this national work of art. The
presidential decree signed by Ilham Aliyev, president of the
Azerbaijan Republic on March 6, 2007, is a vivid state care for
carpet weaving, and to the carpet museums which today defend and
keep them.
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