Karabagh Dragon rug in a dark brown ground (based on the design of the Victoria & Albert Museum Karabagh Dragon rug XVII century)

CODE: KRBDRGVA04

Size: 198x283cm

Size (ft): 6'5"x9'3"

Area: 5.6 m²

Density: 170 000 knots per square meter, totally ~1 million knots

Colors: dark brown, light brown, medium brown, red, yellow, lawn green, aqua green, navy blue, sky blue, maroon, cinnamon, ivory, tan/cream.

Dyes: madder, weld (Reseda Luteola), indigo, pomegranate skins, walnut husks, natural dark brown sheep wool (ground color of the central field), natural ivory sheep wool

Materials: Handcarded and handspun wool for pile, ivory wool warps and ivory wool wefts (two shots). 1cm of flatwoven kilim ends at both sides. - wool on wool

Knots: Gördes (Turkish, symmetrical)

Pile height: 0.6cm

Ends: chained ends

Inscriptions: weaving date, tamga (tribal seal) of Afshar tribe, the word "Qarabagh" woven in silk with ancient runic Orkhon Yenisei scripts


Weaver: Gultekin, Kamila, Leyla

Weaving Period: six month

Handwoven in Azerbaijan

Design: The design with an archaic character is based on the scheme of long serrated leaves forming a diamond lattice, with palmettes at the intersections. The highly conventionalised representations of the three chief mythological animals of Far East, the dragon (ti'en lung), the phoenix (feng huang), the flaming lion above the unicorn (ch'ilin) must have been derived through Iran from the Eastern Turkestan. The other motifs are a pair of fawns, pheasant, duck, bird, domestic animals, different forms of trees and flowers, swastika.