60 Year Shirvan Rug

??????In terms of style, Azerbaijani carpets can be divided into three groups: Quba-Shirvan (carpets woven in Quba, Baku and the Shirvan region), Gandja-Qazakh (carpets from the Gandja and Qazakh regions) and Qarabagh (carpets from the Qarabagh, Shusha and Djabrail regions). Carpets from the Quba-Shirvan group have a border comprising several bands of repeat design and a central field in white or a saturated tone, either containing one or more large geometrical medallions or a number of small geometrical or stylized ornamental flower elements. The key design elements of the Gandja-Qazakh group are a chain of three polygonal medallions or one large medallion surrounded by stylized trees or small stars and S-shaped volutes symbolizing a dragon. The S-shaped volute or dragon design is also a principal element in flat-woven rugs (see KILIM). The border consists of three bands of rhomboids and wavy lines or simplified figures of birds. Repeated squares of stylized birds are also found in a 19th-century kilim from the village of Khizi (Baku, Mus. Carpets & Applied A.; see fig. 7). In carpets of the Qarabagh group the central medallion and surrounding elements derive from vegetal, floral, bird or animal forms. In some instances the central field is completely filled with large rosettes linked by geometrical designs. There are no precise stylistic borders and often variations of the same motif, such as the buta, are incorporated into the ornamental schemes of carpets in all three carpet groups.
??????Technically Azerbaijani carpets are of high quality, averaging 1600 knots per sq. decimetre in flat-woven rugs and 4900 knots per sq. decimetre in pile carpets. This factor and the ornamental compositions ensured that Azerbaijani carpets became greatly sought after on the international carpet market when an export route via Russia developed in the late 19th to early 20th century. During this period the carpets of Shirvan and Qarabagh began to include multi-figure designs imitating Western tapestry.