Carpet Museum displays Shirvan zili carpet

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum has showcased Shirvan zili carpet. The carpet is currently on display at the  Russian Museum of Ethnography as part of the joint exhibition.

The exposition "Weaving the thread of fate into the carpet. Decorative and applied art of Azerbaijan in the collection of the Russian Ethnographic Museum" features over 100 unique samples of decorative and applied art. 

The exposition displays around 40 carpets and carpet products  as well as other works of decorative and applied art by Azerbaijani artists of the 19th–20th centuries.

Most of the carpets were made in the second half of the 19th – the first decade of the 20th century.

 The late-18th-century Surakhani carpet is the oldest and most unique piece of the exhibition.

Shirvan zili carpet is adorned with elements of various meanings, characteristic of Shirvan carpets.? Old carpet weavers called these stylized ornaments givrim (curl), ajdaha (dragon), kilim-gulu (kilim flower), as well as gosha buynuz (double horn) decorated with darag (comb) and tazi (dog) elements.? The carpet`s border feature kechi (goat) elements against a white background, symbolizing the lunar cult.

The Carpet Museum also provided insight into Lamp carpets of Karabakh carper school, designed on the bas of the Lechek-Turunj composition.

Since the first half of the 19th century, these had been  woven in Shusha and in all carpet weaving centers of Karabakh. 

These carpets decorated the walls and ceiling of big houses. As a rule, Lampe carpets were woven as a set, including two side carpets and one central.

The big eight-pointed medallion in the center is typical for Lampe carpets. The elongated ketebes? adorn the top and bottom parts of the medallion. Parrot images decorate? the? empty spaces of the central field near the medallion. The artistic design of the central field is enriched with big lachaks (petals) in the corners of the carpet.

Notably, Karabakh carpets are distinguished from other national carpet schools by their artistic and technological production and their size.

This carpet school is famous for its pileless carpets, including shadda, zili, verni, kilim and palas products. Karabakh carpets are characterized by bright colors and vegetative motives.

There are 33 compositions of Karabakh carpets. These carpets are produced in the towns Malibeyli, Muradkhanli, Dashbulag, Jabrayil, Horadiz in Karabakh in mountainous part of Karabakh.

In the 19th century, Shusha city and Dashbulag, Dovshanli, Girov, Trinivz, Chanakhchi, Tug, Kohna Tughlar, Hadrut, Muradkhanli, Gasimushagi, Gubadli, Gozag, Mirseyid, Bagirbeyli, Khanlig, Dag Tumas and other villages of mountanious zone of Karabakh had essential role in the carpet weaving production.

With its colorful patterns and manufacturing technique., Zangazur and Nakhchivan are also included in Karabakh carpet school.

These carpet compositions feature classical patterns of Karabakh carpet-weaving school, including "Aran”, "Bagchadaguller", "Bal?g", "Buynuz", "Barda", "Bahmanli", "Garabag", "Goja", "Gasimushagi", "Lambaran", "Mugan", "Talish", "Lampa", "Malibayli ", "Khangarvand", "Khanlig", "Khantirma", "Chalabi", and "Shabalidbuta". 

With its rich colors, this carpet school  comprises all undertones of nature of Karabakh. Besides various plants, these colors are gained from different kinds of insects. The most popular insect from which red color is produced is scale insect or red worm.