Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Азербайджанский ковёр" in Russian language version.
Rug weaving in the Caucasus extends back at least to medieval times, as fragments of knotted pile carpet from the 13th and 14th centuries have been uncovered in several cave complexes in Georgia. There is also reason to believe that the Persian Shāh ʿAbbās during the 17th century established manufactories in the Shirvan and Karabagh districts whose products included carpets, and a surviving group of large 17th- and 18th-century carpets may well be from this enterprise. Among the designs used were the avshan (geometrized calyx and stem), the harshang (crab), and a bold lattice design with stylized animals, including dragons, in the interstices. Almost certainly these carpets were based upon Persian prototypes, although they are characterized by bold, vigorous designs rather than traditional Persian fineness of weave.
«The silk trade, over which the government held a monopoly, was a primary source of revenue. Ismāʿīl’s successor, Ṭahmāsp I (reigned 1524-76), encouraged carpet weaving on the scale of a state industry. ʿAbbās I (reigned 1588—1629) established trade contacts directly with Europe, but Iran’s remoteness from Europe, behind the imposing Ottoman screen, made maintaining and promoting these contacts difficult and sporadic.»
.Shirvan rug — floor covering handmade in the Shirvan region of Azerbaijan in the southeastern Caucasus. With the exception of a group of rugs woven in the vicinity of Baku, most Shirvans are found in small sizes, with examples from the southern part of the area around the town of Saliani more likely to be in the long, narrow format described in the West as runners. The area around Maraza has produced many prayer rugs, including a well-known type with boteh (leaf-shaped) figures on a blue field. Most small Shirvan rugs are not specifically identifiable as to village source, as they share a range of geometric field designs and borders. They are generally less finely woven than rugs from farther north in the Kuba district, although they are finer than the Kazakh-type rugs made in western Azerbaijan. Shirvan rugs are usually all wool, but some may show cotton wefts and cotton edges.
Karabagh rug — floor covering handmade in the district of Karabakh (Armenian-controlled Azerbaijan), just north of the present Iranian border. As might be expected, Karabagh designs and colour schemes tend to be more like those of Persian rugs than do those made in other parts of the Caucasus, and it is difficult to distinguish Karabagh runners from those of Karaja, in Iran, to the south. Certain Karabagh rugs also resemble those of Shirvan to the north in Azerbaijan.
Kuba carpet — floor covering from the Caucasus woven in the vicinity of Kuba (now Quba) in northern Azerbaijan. Kuba carpets of the last century and a half of several major types were woven in villages centred around the towns of Perepedil, Divichi, Konaghend, Zejwa, Karagashli, and Kusary. They are as a group the most finely knotted Caucasian rugs, particularly the Perepedil, which show a highly geometrized floral design on a blue or ivory field. The Konaghend most frequently feature a large central medallion, while those rugs labeled as Karagashli usually contain isolated elements from the Persian avshan («sprig») or harshang («crab») designs. The most common type of large, red-field Caucasian soumak rug was woven in the nearby town of Kusary. In the first half of the 20th century another group of 17th- and 18th-century rugs was thought to have been woven in Kuba. These included the Caucasian dragon rugs, which often reached nearly 20 feet (6 metres) in length. The same production centre also used geometrized Persian designs, but these rugs are now thought to have originated somewhere in the Karabagh or Genje region.
Kazakh rug — floor covering woven by villagers living in western Azerbaijan and in a number of towns and villages in northern Armenia and the adjacent southern part of Georgia. The weavers are probably mostly Azerbaijanian Turks, although it is clear that both Armenians and Georgians have taken part in the production of these rugs. Kazakh rugs are all wool, coarsely knotted in the symmetrical knot with a long, lustrous pile, and use strong red, blue, and ivory in bold combinations with relatively simple but dramatic designs. The rugs seldom exceed about 1,7 × 2 metres (5.5 × 7 feet), and many of the smaller pieces are in prayer rug designs. Many show three medallions of approximately equal size, while another common format involves a central square enclosing geometric figures with two smaller squares at each end.
Baku rug — handwoven floor covering made in the vicinity of Baku, Azerbaijan, a major port on the Caspian Sea. Rugs have been woven in this area since at least the 18th century and probably long before, although it is difficult to determine which were woven in the city and which in such nearby villages as Surahani and Chaildag. The so-called Chila rugs were almost certainly woven in this area. The earliest examples are larger than most Caucasian rugs, ranging about 5 × 12 feet (1.5 × 3.6 metres), often showing either an avshan («scattered» floral sprig) or harshang («crab») design. Examples from later production may have some cotton in the wefts and are more likely to show a boteh (pear-shaped motif) design, often with a small medallion. Most of these rugs have a blue field.
Genje carpet — floor covering handwoven in Azerbaijan in or near the city of Gäncä (also spelled Gendje or Gänjä; in the Soviet era it was named Kirovabad, and under Imperial Russia, Yelizavetpol). The carpets are characterized by simple, angular designs and saturated (intense) colours. Genje carpets most often have designs composed of octagons, stars, or three geometric medallions arranged on the carpet’s longitudinal axis. Typical colours are blue, dark blue, and madder red. Old Genjes are made entirely of wool, but newer examples have piles of coarse wool knotted onto cotton foundation weaves. As the region producing Genje rugs lies between the areas producing Kazakh and Karabagh rugs, the Genje shows features of both.
Ninety percent of carpets, especially flatweaves and flatweave fabrics, which have become famous as Kavkaz (Caucasian), are in fact Azerbaijani carpets, which greatly influenced both the technical and artistic aspects of carpet weaving in the Caucasus and in Turkey and Iran.
From the 15th century and especially from the second half of the 16th century, the Afshan, Lachak-turundj, Goelbendlik and other carpet compositions which were developed in southern Azerbaijan were adopted by the weavers in the towns of northern Azerbaijan (Garabagh, Baku, Shirvan). The floral pattern on which these designs were based were soon transformed into geometric patterns which reflected the local technical and artistic preferences.
According to historical sources, the six Caspian districts of Azerbaijan produced 18,000 rugs and carpet fabrics in 1843. Carpets from Shirvan and Guba were sold in Baku and those from Kazak and Ganja in Tabriz and Istanbul.
From the 15th century and especially from the second half of the 16th century, the Afshan, Lachak-turundj, Goelbendlik and other carpet compositions which were developed in southern Azerbaijan were adopted by the weavers in the towns of northern Azerbaijan (Garabagh, Baku, Shirvan). The floral pattern on which these designs were based were soon transformed into geometric patterns which reflected the local technical and artistic preferences.
In numerous workshops in the southern Kerman, in the Khorasan province and in the northeast and its towns and cities Gonabad, Qain, the carpet weavers mainly worked in the Farsbaf technique, that is the «Persian knot». The rugs made from thick thread were usually thick and coarse. They are still Azerbaijani master craftsmen working in these workshops today. The fabrics they produce are of the highest technical and artistic quality. The fame of these workshops is not based on the number of their looms but on the number of their master craftsmen who have command of the Turkbaf technique and who come from Azerbaijan. The Turkbaf technique, the origins of which go back to ancient times, was further perfected during the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th century. It allows the weaving of fine carpets, particularly silk carpets with a very high knot density. The Ghiordes technique, which is used by the Turkish-speaking peoples, could be regarded as an offshoot of the Turkbaf technique.
«Сегодня не секрет, что понятия „азербайджанский ковёр“ и „азербайджанская культура“ требуют своего утверждения. Многие годы азербайджанская культура представлялась в рамках кавказской и иранской культуры. Сегодня, с приобретением независимости Азербайджана, наша страна может и должна заявить о своей самобытной культуре. (…) Я сама сталкивалась с музейными атрибуциями в разных музейных коллекциях мира, в которых азербайджанские ковры представлены по регионам (Куба, Ширван, Баку, Гянджа, Газах, Карабах и т. д.) с искажённой этнической принадлежностью».
«Все эти авторы, не делая различий между отдельными группами, объединяли азербайджанские, дагестанские и армянские ковры в одну общую группу — кавказскую (…) Вся позднейшая литература зарубежных и советских исследователей, посвящённая истории коврового искусства стран Востока, уделяет очень мало внимания азербайджанским коврам, часто смешивая их с иранскими, турецкими, дагестанскими и др.»
«…while Karim Mirzaee from Tehran and Tabriz Art University in Tabriz traced the appearance of a particular motif seen in carpets from Derbent in northern Azerbaijan to Saraband in southern Iran.»
Russian imperial expansion in the late 13th/19th century opened the Caucasus to the West, and what had been a modest local weaving industry evolved into a major source of exports. The main weaving zone was in the eastern Transcaucasus south of the mountains that bisect the region diagonally (see Figure 1), the area now comprised in the Azerbaijan SSR; it is the homeland of a Turkic population known today as Azeri (see AZERBAIJAN vi. Population and its Occupations and Culture). Other ethnic groups also practiced weaving, some of them in other parts of the Caucasus, but they were of lesser importance.
Russian imperial expansion in the late 13th/19th century opened the Caucasus to the West, and what had been a modest local weaving industry evolved into a major source of exports. The main weaving zone was in the eastern Transcaucasus south of the mountains that bisect the region diagonally (see Figure 1), the area now comprised in the Azerbaijan SSR; it is the homeland of a Turkic population known today as Azeri (see AZERBAIJAN vi. Population and its Occupations and Culture). Other ethnic groups also practiced weaving, some of them in other parts of the Caucasus, but they were of lesser importance. In the 1290s/1870s the imperial Russian government began a sustained program in support of home industry (kustarnaya promyshlennost’).
That carpets were used and produced in Persia in the 8-9th/14-15th centuries has nonetheless been inferred from written sources, both contemporary and slightly earlier (e.g., Barbaro and Contarini, p. 119; Erdmann, 1962, p. 18; idem, 1977, p. 14). The existence of carpets and weavings from contemporary Anatolia and the Turkman tribal confederations, and possibly also from Egypt and even Spain (Spuhler, 1978, pp. 27-32; Helfgott, pp. 107-14), permits the inference that carpets were being produced in Persia as well. Finally, it has been argued that «the finest surviving knotted carpets… of the Safavid dynasty… could not have originated spontaneously» (Spuhler, 1986, p. 698).
«В мировых музеях азербайджанские ковры преподносятся как кавказские, что подразумевается как армянские, — сообщил он (руководитель Научно-творческого производственного объединения „Азерхалча“ Алисафа Нуриев). — <…> Долгом всего азербайджанского народа является защита древнего искусства ковроткачества от агрессии других народов.»
«Азербайджанские ковры преподносятся в музеях мира как кавказские, персидские или восточные…. Мы поддерживаем постоянную связь с международной музейной общественностью, с тем, чтобы донести до неё, что кавказские ковры — понятие общее, и как говорил Лятиф Керимов, 98 % из них составляют азербайджанские ковры.»
«In 1980 Hali, Vol. 3, No 1, the late Robert Pinner and a British rug dealer Michael Frances published Star-Kasaks/Sternkasaks. This was a detailed look at the known Star Kazaks at that time. The most enduring part of the article are the four groups into which Pinner and the rug dealer divided the rugs. The Hali Star Kazak groups types A, B, C, and D continue to hold up well to this day.»
Ворсовые ковры Азербайджана делятся на группы: «Куба», «Ширван», «Баку», «Гянджа», «Казах», «Карабах».
Among goods exported from Azerbaijan to Russia in 1684 there were two, and in 1688 «three Shemakhin carpets». Shirvan carpets were widely known and were exported to other cities and countries. Shirvan carpets from the XVII century have been preserved abroad. The Victoria and Albert Museum (London) includes the «sumakh» type of Shirvan carpets among other Caucasian carpets. One of the Shirvan carpets, named «the Kuban», depicts horseman and camel riders [a typical shadda]. Another carpet has geometrical ornaments.
Epigraphic remains — tombstones in form of a toolchest (sunduk) of the XVI century, found in the Lachinsku region (Azerbaijan SSR), and in the village Urud of Sisian region (Armenian SSR), also tell about the extent of carpet weaving in Azerbaijan villages.
…generally these rugs have been classified as Caucasian rugs, which they are, but I further classify them as Azerbaijani Caucasian rugs to note their Azerbaijani origins… Moreover, the most sought after and valuable Persian rugs are in fact not even Persian in origin, they are Azerbaijani. Serapi, Tabriz, Heriz, and Bakhshaish, generally regarded as among the most important «Persian rugs», are regions/cities in Southern Azerbaijan (also called Iranian Azerbaijan), which is not the Persia/Iran most of us think of today; though still today these rugs are incorrectly classified by the rug community as «Northwest Persian»…
Antique Azerbaijani rugs are in The White House, The State Department, and every important museum in the world including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louvre, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Vatican, and The Hermitage.
«Ковёр в Республике Азербайджан является традиционным текстильным изделием, отличающимся разнообразием размеров, плотности текстуры. Изготавливаемые вручную, они могут быть плетёными или ткаными, а рисунок каждого из них характерен только для одной из многих областей, где производятся азербайджанские ковры. Ковроделие — часть семейной традиции, которая передаётся как устно, так и в ходе практических занятий.»
New digital collection «Azerbaijani Carpets» has just been published with a support of the UNESCO Moscow Office. CD collection contain 215 photo, 15 video clips and several articles on the art of Azerbaijani Carpets. CD «Azerbaijan Carpets» consists of following blocs:
• History of Azerbaijan Carpet weaving • Azerbaijan carpet-making techniques • Azerbaijan Carpet weaving schools • Figuratire Carpets • Carpet collections of world’s museums
• Bibliography, list-info and about this CD
Rug weaving in the Caucasus extends back at least to medieval times, as fragments of knotted pile carpet from the 13th and 14th centuries have been uncovered in several cave complexes in Georgia. There is also reason to believe that the Persian Shāh ʿAbbās during the 17th century established manufactories in the Shirvan and Karabagh districts whose products included carpets, and a surviving group of large 17th- and 18th-century carpets may well be from this enterprise. Among the designs used were the avshan (geometrized calyx and stem), the harshang (crab), and a bold lattice design with stylized animals, including dragons, in the interstices. Almost certainly these carpets were based upon Persian prototypes, although they are characterized by bold, vigorous designs rather than traditional Persian fineness of weave.
Ninety percent of carpets, especially flatweaves and flatweave fabrics, which have become famous as Kavkaz (Caucasian), are in fact Azerbaijani carpets, which greatly influenced both the technical and artistic aspects of carpet weaving in the Caucasus and in Turkey and Iran.
«В мировых музеях азербайджанские ковры преподносятся как кавказские, что подразумевается как армянские, — сообщил он (руководитель Научно-творческого производственного объединения „Азерхалча“ Алисафа Нуриев). — <…> Долгом всего азербайджанского народа является защита древнего искусства ковроткачества от агрессии других народов.»
«Сегодня не секрет, что понятия „азербайджанский ковёр“ и „азербайджанская культура“ требуют своего утверждения. Многие годы азербайджанская культура представлялась в рамках кавказской и иранской культуры. Сегодня, с приобретением независимости Азербайджана, наша страна может и должна заявить о своей самобытной культуре. (…) Я сама сталкивалась с музейными атрибуциями в разных музейных коллекциях мира, в которых азербайджанские ковры представлены по регионам (Куба, Ширван, Баку, Гянджа, Газах, Карабах и т. д.) с искажённой этнической принадлежностью».
«Азербайджанские ковры преподносятся в музеях мира как кавказские, персидские или восточные…. Мы поддерживаем постоянную связь с международной музейной общественностью, с тем, чтобы донести до неё, что кавказские ковры — понятие общее, и как говорил Лятиф Керимов, 98 % из них составляют азербайджанские ковры.»
…generally these rugs have been classified as Caucasian rugs, which they are, but I further classify them as Azerbaijani Caucasian rugs to note their Azerbaijani origins… Moreover, the most sought after and valuable Persian rugs are in fact not even Persian in origin, they are Azerbaijani. Serapi, Tabriz, Heriz, and Bakhshaish, generally regarded as among the most important «Persian rugs», are regions/cities in Southern Azerbaijan (also called Iranian Azerbaijan), which is not the Persia/Iran most of us think of today; though still today these rugs are incorrectly classified by the rug community as «Northwest Persian»…
Russian imperial expansion in the late 13th/19th century opened the Caucasus to the West, and what had been a modest local weaving industry evolved into a major source of exports. The main weaving zone was in the eastern Transcaucasus south of the mountains that bisect the region diagonally (see Figure 1), the area now comprised in the Azerbaijan SSR; it is the homeland of a Turkic population known today as Azeri (see AZERBAIJAN vi. Population and its Occupations and Culture). Other ethnic groups also practiced weaving, some of them in other parts of the Caucasus, but they were of lesser importance.
Среди азербайджанских ковров, хранящихся в крупнейших музеях мира и неоднократно воспроизводящихся как в специальных выставочных, так и рекламных каталогах, заслуженной известностью обладает замечательный ковёр «Шейх-Сефи» из Ардебильской мечети (Музей Виктории и Альберта в Лондоне). Дело не только в его размерах, по тому времени незаурядных — 5,34X10,51 м. Специально сотканный для этой мечети «рабом божьим Максудом Кашани» в ковроткацких мастерских Тебриза, он наделён присущими азербайджанским коврам чертами, но индивидуально интерпретированными (илл.118).
Antique Azerbaijani rugs are in The White House, The State Department, and every important museum in the world including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louvre, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Vatican, and The Hermitage.
New digital collection «Azerbaijani Carpets» has just been published with a support of the UNESCO Moscow Office. CD collection contain 215 photo, 15 video clips and several articles on the art of Azerbaijani Carpets. CD «Azerbaijan Carpets» consists of following blocs:
• History of Azerbaijan Carpet weaving • Azerbaijan carpet-making techniques • Azerbaijan Carpet weaving schools • Figuratire Carpets • Carpet collections of world’s museums
• Bibliography, list-info and about this CD
«Ковёр в Республике Азербайджан является традиционным текстильным изделием, отличающимся разнообразием размеров, плотности текстуры. Изготавливаемые вручную, они могут быть плетёными или ткаными, а рисунок каждого из них характерен только для одной из многих областей, где производятся азербайджанские ковры. Ковроделие — часть семейной традиции, которая передаётся как устно, так и в ходе практических занятий.»
From the 15th century and especially from the second half of the 16th century, the Afshan, Lachak-turundj, Goelbendlik and other carpet compositions which were developed in southern Azerbaijan were adopted by the weavers in the towns of northern Azerbaijan (Garabagh, Baku, Shirvan). The floral pattern on which these designs were based were soon transformed into geometric patterns which reflected the local technical and artistic preferences.
According to historical sources, the six Caspian districts of Azerbaijan produced 18,000 rugs and carpet fabrics in 1843. Carpets from Shirvan and Guba were sold in Baku and those from Kazak and Ganja in Tabriz and Istanbul.
«The silk trade, over which the government held a monopoly, was a primary source of revenue. Ismāʿīl’s successor, Ṭahmāsp I (reigned 1524-76), encouraged carpet weaving on the scale of a state industry. ʿAbbās I (reigned 1588—1629) established trade contacts directly with Europe, but Iran’s remoteness from Europe, behind the imposing Ottoman screen, made maintaining and promoting these contacts difficult and sporadic.»
From the 15th century and especially from the second half of the 16th century, the Afshan, Lachak-turundj, Goelbendlik and other carpet compositions which were developed in southern Azerbaijan were adopted by the weavers in the towns of northern Azerbaijan (Garabagh, Baku, Shirvan). The floral pattern on which these designs were based were soon transformed into geometric patterns which reflected the local technical and artistic preferences.
Russian imperial expansion in the late 13th/19th century opened the Caucasus to the West, and what had been a modest local weaving industry evolved into a major source of exports. The main weaving zone was in the eastern Transcaucasus south of the mountains that bisect the region diagonally (see Figure 1), the area now comprised in the Azerbaijan SSR; it is the homeland of a Turkic population known today as Azeri (see AZERBAIJAN vi. Population and its Occupations and Culture). Other ethnic groups also practiced weaving, some of them in other parts of the Caucasus, but they were of lesser importance. In the 1290s/1870s the imperial Russian government began a sustained program in support of home industry (kustarnaya promyshlennost’).
По технике изготовления и фактуре азербайджанские ковры делятся на два резко разнящихся вида: безворсовые («паласы», «сумахи», «килимы», «джеджимы», «зили», «верни» и др.) и ворсовые (большие — «хали» и сравнительно мелкие — «халча»).
In numerous workshops in the southern Kerman, in the Khorasan province and in the northeast and its towns and cities Gonabad, Qain, the carpet weavers mainly worked in the Farsbaf technique, that is the «Persian knot». The rugs made from thick thread were usually thick and coarse. They are still Azerbaijani master craftsmen working in these workshops today. The fabrics they produce are of the highest technical and artistic quality. The fame of these workshops is not based on the number of their looms but on the number of their master craftsmen who have command of the Turkbaf technique and who come from Azerbaijan. The Turkbaf technique, the origins of which go back to ancient times, was further perfected during the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th century. It allows the weaving of fine carpets, particularly silk carpets with a very high knot density. The Ghiordes technique, which is used by the Turkish-speaking peoples, could be regarded as an offshoot of the Turkbaf technique.
«…while Karim Mirzaee from Tehran and Tabriz Art University in Tabriz traced the appearance of a particular motif seen in carpets from Derbent in northern Azerbaijan to Saraband in southern Iran.»
Ворсовые ковры Азербайджана делятся на группы: «Куба», «Ширван», «Баку», «Гянджа», «Казах», «Карабах».
По художественно-техническим особенностям они составляют четыре основные, стилистически довольно чётко локализирующиеся группы — Куба-Ширванскую, Ганджа-Казахскую, Карабахскую и Тебризскую.
.Shirvan rug — floor covering handmade in the Shirvan region of Azerbaijan in the southeastern Caucasus. With the exception of a group of rugs woven in the vicinity of Baku, most Shirvans are found in small sizes, with examples from the southern part of the area around the town of Saliani more likely to be in the long, narrow format described in the West as runners. The area around Maraza has produced many prayer rugs, including a well-known type with boteh (leaf-shaped) figures on a blue field. Most small Shirvan rugs are not specifically identifiable as to village source, as they share a range of geometric field designs and borders. They are generally less finely woven than rugs from farther north in the Kuba district, although they are finer than the Kazakh-type rugs made in western Azerbaijan. Shirvan rugs are usually all wool, but some may show cotton wefts and cotton edges.
Английский купец Антони Дженкинсон, побывавший в Азербайджане в 1562 году, подробно описывал поразившую его роскошь приёма Абдулла-ханом, тогдашним правителем Ширвана. Дженкинсон отметил и «шитый шёлком и золотом шатёр», и что «весь пол в его шатре был покрыт богатыми коврами, а под ним (Абдулла-ханом.— Авт.) был постлан квадратный ковёр, шитый серебром и золотом, на который были положены подушки соответственного достоинства», и что сам Абдулла-хан был «богато одет в длинные шёлковые и парчовые одежды, расшитые жемчугом и драгоценными каменьями. На голове у него был остроконечный тюрбан вышиной в пол ярда из богатой золотой парчи, обёрнутый вокруг куском индийского шёлка длиной в 20 ярдов и расшитый золотом»
Among goods exported from Azerbaijan to Russia in 1684 there were two, and in 1688 «three Shemakhin carpets». Shirvan carpets were widely known and were exported to other cities and countries. Shirvan carpets from the XVII century have been preserved abroad. The Victoria and Albert Museum (London) includes the «sumakh» type of Shirvan carpets among other Caucasian carpets. One of the Shirvan carpets, named «the Kuban», depicts horseman and camel riders [a typical shadda]. Another carpet has geometrical ornaments.
Karabagh rug — floor covering handmade in the district of Karabakh (Armenian-controlled Azerbaijan), just north of the present Iranian border. As might be expected, Karabagh designs and colour schemes tend to be more like those of Persian rugs than do those made in other parts of the Caucasus, and it is difficult to distinguish Karabagh runners from those of Karaja, in Iran, to the south. Certain Karabagh rugs also resemble those of Shirvan to the north in Azerbaijan.
Epigraphic remains — tombstones in form of a toolchest (sunduk) of the XVI century, found in the Lachinsku region (Azerbaijan SSR), and in the village Urud of Sisian region (Armenian SSR), also tell about the extent of carpet weaving in Azerbaijan villages.
Kuba carpet — floor covering from the Caucasus woven in the vicinity of Kuba (now Quba) in northern Azerbaijan. Kuba carpets of the last century and a half of several major types were woven in villages centred around the towns of Perepedil, Divichi, Konaghend, Zejwa, Karagashli, and Kusary. They are as a group the most finely knotted Caucasian rugs, particularly the Perepedil, which show a highly geometrized floral design on a blue or ivory field. The Konaghend most frequently feature a large central medallion, while those rugs labeled as Karagashli usually contain isolated elements from the Persian avshan («sprig») or harshang («crab») designs. The most common type of large, red-field Caucasian soumak rug was woven in the nearby town of Kusary. In the first half of the 20th century another group of 17th- and 18th-century rugs was thought to have been woven in Kuba. These included the Caucasian dragon rugs, which often reached nearly 20 feet (6 metres) in length. The same production centre also used geometrized Persian designs, but these rugs are now thought to have originated somewhere in the Karabagh or Genje region.
Kazakh rug — floor covering woven by villagers living in western Azerbaijan and in a number of towns and villages in northern Armenia and the adjacent southern part of Georgia. The weavers are probably mostly Azerbaijanian Turks, although it is clear that both Armenians and Georgians have taken part in the production of these rugs. Kazakh rugs are all wool, coarsely knotted in the symmetrical knot with a long, lustrous pile, and use strong red, blue, and ivory in bold combinations with relatively simple but dramatic designs. The rugs seldom exceed about 1,7 × 2 metres (5.5 × 7 feet), and many of the smaller pieces are in prayer rug designs. Many show three medallions of approximately equal size, while another common format involves a central square enclosing geometric figures with two smaller squares at each end.
«In 1980 Hali, Vol. 3, No 1, the late Robert Pinner and a British rug dealer Michael Frances published Star-Kasaks/Sternkasaks. This was a detailed look at the known Star Kazaks at that time. The most enduring part of the article are the four groups into which Pinner and the rug dealer divided the rugs. The Hali Star Kazak groups types A, B, C, and D continue to hold up well to this day.»
Baku rug — handwoven floor covering made in the vicinity of Baku, Azerbaijan, a major port on the Caspian Sea. Rugs have been woven in this area since at least the 18th century and probably long before, although it is difficult to determine which were woven in the city and which in such nearby villages as Surahani and Chaildag. The so-called Chila rugs were almost certainly woven in this area. The earliest examples are larger than most Caucasian rugs, ranging about 5 × 12 feet (1.5 × 3.6 metres), often showing either an avshan («scattered» floral sprig) or harshang («crab») design. Examples from later production may have some cotton in the wefts and are more likely to show a boteh (pear-shaped motif) design, often with a small medallion. Most of these rugs have a blue field.
Genje carpet — floor covering handwoven in Azerbaijan in or near the city of Gäncä (also spelled Gendje or Gänjä; in the Soviet era it was named Kirovabad, and under Imperial Russia, Yelizavetpol). The carpets are characterized by simple, angular designs and saturated (intense) colours. Genje carpets most often have designs composed of octagons, stars, or three geometric medallions arranged on the carpet’s longitudinal axis. Typical colours are blue, dark blue, and madder red. Old Genjes are made entirely of wool, but newer examples have piles of coarse wool knotted onto cotton foundation weaves. As the region producing Genje rugs lies between the areas producing Kazakh and Karabagh rugs, the Genje shows features of both.
That carpets were used and produced in Persia in the 8-9th/14-15th centuries has nonetheless been inferred from written sources, both contemporary and slightly earlier (e.g., Barbaro and Contarini, p. 119; Erdmann, 1962, p. 18; idem, 1977, p. 14). The existence of carpets and weavings from contemporary Anatolia and the Turkman tribal confederations, and possibly also from Egypt and even Spain (Spuhler, 1978, pp. 27-32; Helfgott, pp. 107-14), permits the inference that carpets were being produced in Persia as well. Finally, it has been argued that «the finest surviving knotted carpets… of the Safavid dynasty… could not have originated spontaneously» (Spuhler, 1986, p. 698).
