| The history of Persian carpets |
- Main page
- The Persian carpet
- The history of Persian carpets
- The Persian history
- Photos
- My friends
- Contact me
Before the dyeing process could begin, the wool had to be washed and dried in the sun to bleach it. The clean wool as then spun by hand. Since the tribes were constantly on the move and had only small vessels in which to hold the dyes, the dyers were unable to achieve uniformity in shades, with yarn displaying varying tones of the same color. The wool was loosely dipped into dyeing vats and left for a time that could be judged only by the expert craftsman. Then the wool was left to hang without being squeezed, which would have left an uneven coloring. Later the wool was dried in the sun.
Because the wool and cotton and silk used in marking the carpets are perishable, very few of the earliest carpet are now in existence. Russian Professor Rudenko discovered the earliest known Persian carpet in 1949 during excavations of burial mounds in the Altai Mountains in Siberia. The Carpet had been preserved purely by chance. Soon after it had been placed in the burial mound, grave robbers raided the mound. They ignored the carpet but, threw the opening they left, water poured into the mound and froze, thus protecting the carpet from decay. Called the Pazyryk rug, the carpet has a woolen pile knotted with Chiordes knot. Its central field is a deep red color and it has two wide borders, one depicting deer and the other Persian horseman. It dates from the fifth century BC and is now kept in the Hermitage Museum of Leningrad.
Another rug found in the same area, this time with a Senneh knot, dates to the first century BC But, long before that historical records show that the court of Cyrus the Great, who founded the Persian monarchy over 2,500 years ago, was bedecked by magnificent carpets. Classical tales recount how Alexander the Great found carpet of a very fine fabric in Cyrus tomb.
The next great period in the history of Persian carpets came during the Sassanian dynasty, from the third to the seventh century AD By the 6th century Persian carpets had won international prestige and were being exported to distant lands. And in this time was created one great carpet which was a spectacle of overwhelming splendor. The spring or winter carpet of Khosrow was made for the huge audience hall of the palace at Ctesiphon and depicted a formal garden. It held a political significance as an indication of the power and the resource of the king and its beauty signified the divine role of the king. When the Arabs defeated the Persians and took Ctesiphon, they carried off the carpet as part of their fabulous booty and it was eventually cut up into small fragments and divided among the victorious soldiers.
Sitting on a 2'x3' base, the rack is 5' tall and displays up to 40 rugs at one time.
Copyright 2002-2003 © The Persian Carpet LTD.