The Caucasian Rug History

The Caucasus region, some 160,000 square miles in area, is sandwiched between Turkey, Iran and Russia and stretches the Black Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea in the east. The silk route ran along the shores of the Caspian Sea. 

The ethnic richness and vast variety of designs to be found among Caucasian rugs and carpets can be ascribed to its history and the fact that hundreds of tribes are to be found in the Caucasus, speaking multifarious dialects. All Caucasian rugs are small and colorful and therefore easy to integrate in any room. They are immediately accessible to the novice studying oriental rugs. Designs are bold, uncomplicated and memorable, differing from their Persian counterparts further south. Colors follow the same trend of simplicity and directness. 

One clue when trying to pinpoint a particular type of Caucasian rug or carpet is by examining the pile. If it is a rich, shaggy pile it is likely to have been woven in a mountainous district whose indigenous sheep are that much more hardy than their cousins in lowland areas and have thick long fleeces to protect them against the elements. Another tip is that mountainous tribes tended to use dense areas of hotter colors, red, yellows, blues and occasionally greens. In the area by the Caspian Sea the rugs are smaller but the designs are more detailed and complicated. 

Caucasian rugs have such a rich history that they will never go out of fashion

Caucasian weavings fall into two distinct groups in terms of construction. The ‘Kazak’ group, which lies south of the Caucasus mountains, includes the Kazak district itself, as well as the rug districts of Borjalou, Lori-Pambak,

Talish, Karabagh, Chelabard, Karapchov, Lambalo, Karagashli, Genje, Shusha, Lenkoran and Moghan. Kazak rugs often have a fringe at one end only. 

The other group is the ‘Kuba’, which lies north and east of the Caucasus mountains, and includes rugs from the Kuba district, as well as Seichur, Perepedil, Baku, Karagashli, Chichi, Surahani, Daghestan, Lesghistan, Shirvan, Marasali, Cheli and Derbend. Many Caucasian prayer rugs belong to the Kuba group, in which the weavers are almost exclusively Muslim, whereas rugs containing Christian symbols tend to be found among the large communities of Armenian Christians within the Kazak group.

Floral designs

Karabagh

Karabagh is a mountainous area in the southern Caucasus. Antique examples dating from the late eighteenth century have a very strong French influence, with all-over floral patterns of roses and flowers, paralleling the Russian court’s obsession with all things French.

Kuba

Kuba, once a major rug weaving centre where some of the finest Caucasian rugs were made, is known for several different styles including typical Caucasian all-over patterns and the use of very attractive floral motifs stylized to the point of being almost geometric in appearance. The leaf-and-twig border is found in many Kuba rugs.

Baku

Baku is the south-eastern Caucasus on the Caspian Sea, near the Persian border. Consequently designs are complex, like those of Persian rugs, and are finely executed with a short pile.

      The use of blue in a wide range of intensities is the dominant characteristic of Baku rugs, ranging from pale blue to the darkest turquoise, on a dark blue or black ground. The patterns are tightly disciplined with a pleasing rhythm about them; one of the most attractive is a field woven with polychrome botehs and serrated-edged octagons, though some designs have botehs only. Sometimes birds and animals are incorporated into borders. The barber’s pole is often used as a border. The long narrow format is typical of Baku rugs, as is the endless field of the central panel.

Seichur

Seichur is located within the Kuba region, near Derbend on the Caspian coast. Rugs from this area have a broad ‘X’ repeated down their field. They often show a clear European influence in their depiction of floral forms. The European influence was probably intended to appeal to the tastes of wealthy nineteenth-century Russians.