Your Antique Caucasian Rug - From Legends And Lost Traditions - By: Arnold Hexden

In the past, Emperors, Kings and Tsars have made their fair share
of mistakes throughout history, however If it weren't for them
we wouldn't have the wisdom and the power to learn from the
past. One of the most inexplicable and pointless mistakes was
the one made by the Soviet Union in 1920 when they destroyed the
future of a prosperous and promising rug-weaving culture in the
area of Caucasus. Even nowadays the people from the three
countries in that area Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are still
trying to rediscover the skill and artisan-ship of their
ancestors who made the antique Caucasian rug an art form.

As it stands, the only truly remarkable authentic Caucasian rugs
have antiquity status; there are some excellent examples of the
antique Caucasian rug which are adored by antique dealers and
collectors the world over. These rugs date back to the 19th
century, and are in a more or less flawless state.

The weavers from Caucasus learned the art of rug-making in the
16th and 17th centuries from the Persians and like all people
living in mountainous areas, they conserved their legacy of
mastering the carpet-weaving craft, by passing down their
knowledge from generation to generation. In time, their style
was influenced by Persian, Turkish, Anatolian or Chinese styles;
a good example of this is the frequently-used 'S' shape
symbolizing a dragon, taking a strong influence from the Far
East.

Russian Communists collectivized the carpet-weaving craft and
transformed it into a real industry in the hope of reducing the
cost by dyeing them chemically and using mechanical looms. Some
of those carpets are still available today and are categorized
as semi-antique rugs to highlight the fact that even if they are
old, however they are of inferior quality.

After 1920, there were still some women who continued making
their own hand-made carpets to continue the tradition of giving
rugs as wedding gifts to their children. The cradle of these
beautiful antique Caucasian rugs lies between the Black Sea and
the Caspian Sea, South from Russia. The majority of the rugs
come from Azerbaijan, however it is difficult to pin point them
exactly as there are no less than 350 tribes speaking more than
150 dialects in this area but the Caucasian rug represent real
links between this immense diversity.

There are 5 main antique Caucasian rug styles: Kuba, hirvan,
Kazak, Baku Cabistan and Karabaugh, but because of the fact that
there are lots of designs, standards, qualities and patterns,
the actual types and sub-types are quite hard to identify.

A antique Caucasian rug is a hand knotted rug with strong colors
and bold geometrical patterns being the typical characteristics.
The palette consists of strong red, dark blue, green, black,
beige, purple and yellow and the patterns are made up by
geometric shapes with stripes, crosses, octagons and hexagons,
triangles and animals, crabs and spiders and human figures. An
antique Caucasian rug generally has one central medallion,
multiple medallions or an all-over design, but concentric
patterns are most common, for instance, a certain shape can be
found in the center of a larger similar or different shape. Some
antique Caucasian area rugs have very dense and intricate
geometrical patterns. The better part of them are made entirely
of wool, but some have a cotton base.

There is nothing compared to the feeling of having such an
alluring, eye-catching piece of authentic Caucasian skill and
artisan-ship right in front of your eyes, knowing that it has
traveled through centuries just to bedeck your house!

The weavers from Caucasus learned the art of rug-making in the
16th and 17th centuries from the Persians and like all people
living in mountainous areas, they conserved their legacy of
mastering the carpet-weaving craft, by passing down their
knowledge from generation to generation.

Arnold Hexden is known for his interesting articles on Persian
and Oriental Rugs . Find out more by viewing href="http://dreamantiquerugs.com/Caucasion_Rugs.html/"> Antique
| Oriental Rugs together with more interesting articles at his website which is at http://www.dreamantiquerugs.com/