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
 

 

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Historical Confronted Animal Rug, 13-14th Century. Late Seljuk (Anatolian Seljuks: 1077-1308), Ilkhanid (1256-1335) or Eldiguzids (Atabegs of Azerbaijan 1135-1225)
Turkey or Caucasus. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 

Medium: Wool (warp, weft, and pile); symmetrically knotted pile
Dimensions: L. 65 in. (165.1 cm) W. 54 1/2in. (138.4 cm)
Tube: L. 62 in. (157.5 cm) Diam. 6 in. (15.2 cm)
Credit Line: Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, Louis V. Bell Fund and Fletcher, Pfeiffer and Rogers Funds, 1990 Accession Number: 1990.61
Provenance: Fred Cagan, Nepal ; [ Lisbet Holmes Textiles, London , until 1990; sold to MMA]

The rug has been carbon 14 dated to 1040-1290 AD
 

With its highly geometricized design, this wool rug differs markedly from the refined courtly carpets, and represents an earlier tradition of weaving that was popular in Europe, where rugs like this are found in fourteenth- and fifteenth century churches and paintings. In fact, the depiction of a rug with the same design as this in an early fifteenth-century Sienese painting allowed for the dating of this example. This is one of only three complete rugs of such an early date and its design of large confronted animals, each with a smaller animal inside, probably derives from contemporary textiles.