About the Antique Rugs of the Future Project

Sheep Breeds of Azerbaijan

Shearing,
Sorting, Washing, Carding, Spinning

"The advantages of handspun yarn to machine spun yarn"

Rediscovery of Ancient Natural Dyes
Our Natural Dyestuffs

Mordants

Difference between synthetically and naturally dyed rugs

Weaving and Finishing Steps

Galleries of ARFP Caucasian Azerbaijani Rugs
 

 

 

"Dragon and Phoenix" rug, based on the 15th century historical Turkish rug which is kept at the Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum of Berlin

Code: DPPRG15-6

Size: 117x166cm (including the kilim ends)

Size (ft): 3'10"x5'5"

Area: 1.94 m2

Knots: totally ~330 000 knots

Colors: yellow, red, green (different shades), ivory, dark brown, medium blue, apricot (kilim ends).

Dyes: madder, weld (Reseda Luteola), indigo, pomegranate skins, onion skins (kilim ends), natural dark brown sheep wool, natural ivory sheep wool

Materials: Handcarded and handspun wool for pile, ivory wool warps and ivory wool wefts (two shots). 3cm of flatwoven kilim ends at both sides. - wool on wool

Knots: Gördes (Turkish, symmetrical)

Pile height: 0.5cm

Ends: thin plaited fringes

Inscriptions: the tamgas (tribal seal) of Afshar, Kayi and Karakoyunlu tribes
   

Weaver: Khanim

Weaving Period: Four months

Handwoven in Azerbaijan

Design:
This is the reconstruction of the 15th century historical Turkish rug. The rug is currently kept at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin.

 
"Dragon and Phoenix" rug, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum Berlin, Germany (Museum für Islamische Kunst) / Georg Niedermeier Meier Meiser (inv. no: 1.4). 90 x 172 cm. 15th century. Ottoman / Karakoyunlu / Ak koyunlu Period (The Kara Koyunlu, also called the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled over the territory comprising the present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia, part of Georgia, north western Iran (Azerbaijan province), eastern Turkey and Iraq from about 1375 to 1468.)



Two highly stylised animals, a dragon and a phoenix, are depicted fighting, against a yellow background and within two octagonal spaces. The phoenix is swooping down onto the dragon from above. The image is clearer in the lower octagonal casing than in the upper. The outer border is composed of semi-palmette tendrils, which are framed on both sides by an edging of little rosettes.The dragon and phoenix motif, which originated in Eastern Turkestan and China was introduced into Islamic art in the AH 7th / AD 13th century with the arrival of the Mongol-Tatar people.

The "Dragon Phoenix" design symbolizes the immortality of the divine and the triumph of life everlasting. The phoenix, flying above the "S" shaped 'divine' dragon, bears symbol for potent and auspicious powers.

Animal-carpets often appear in the paintings of Italian artists, but only a few of the actual pieces survived.

Bartolomeo degli Erri (Modena, act. 1460-79) depicted a rug in a similar format and design in his painting of the "Scenes from Life of St. Vincent Ferrer" (ca. circa 1460).

The painter Domenico di Bartolo depicted a similar dragon-phoenix carpet in his fresco ‘The Wedding of the Foundlings’, which he painted in the Spedale della Scala in Siena in 1440–4.

An animal-carpet featuring stylised birds on trees was found in a church in Sweden. The wide distribution of animal-carpets in Europe demonstrates that they were among the early types of carpets to be exported to Europe from the Ottoman Empire. The historical Dragon and Phoenix carpet allegedly comes from a church in central Italy and, from the results of Carbon-14 analysis, is dated to be from the AH mid-9th / AD mid-15th century.


"The Rearing and Marriage of Female Foundlings", 1441-42, by Domenico di Bartolo. Fresco
Location: Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala, Siena







Artist: Bartolomeo degli Erri (Modena, act. 1460-79)
Scenes from Life of St. Vincent Ferrer, circa 1460.
Location: Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum





Contact us for more information about this rug

  



















Contact us for more information about this rug

 

For more information about the above rug or to place an order please email vd@azerbaijanrugs.com (Baku, Azerbaijan) or ra@azerbaijanrugs.com  (San Francisco Bay Area). We will get back to you within 24 hours or less.