Стр. 13 - Azərbaycan xalçaları

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“Gimil,” “Gonaghkand,” “Sirt
Chichi,” and other pile weave
carpets. These patterns came to
the present day by developing
through history and have become
a symbol of self-expression.
Geometrical patterns such as
triangles, rhombs, fylfots, zig-
zags, and eight-pointed stars
have been widespread as sym-
bols transferring traditionally
from generation to generation on
Guba carpets.
Though geometrical ornaments
passed through certain periods of
history and have changed form
since they were created, they are
represented in main motifs and
sometimes in small filling motifs.
The oldest motif woven in Guba
carpets today are carpet-like ele-
ments with equally-sized projec-
tions. There is no doubt that this
element laid the base of creating
the fylfot motif.
Since this pattern was cross-like
in its initial period, its changing
to “fylfot” in different forms rep-
resented an optical description
of a solar disk or a symbol of a
light source. Ancient humans im-
agined the sun in the center with
unique cross lines and expressed
rays disseminating from it in the
form of a cross. Sometimes this
pattern was accepted as a symbol
of eternal life. The four projec-
tions constituting a “fylfot” are
related to the four elements of
air, fire, earth, and water.
Today the description of “fyl-
fot” in the Guba carpets is woven
according to tradition in the bor-
der stripes, on the background
of the carpet, and in the center of
gols placed in the middle part of
the carpet. This element was de-
scribed in a special style in each
carpet, including in the Guba
carpet group. It is represented
as a finishing motif when a gol
is the main decorative element
of the central field, such as in
“sumakh” carpets of Guba, and
as a decorative element woven
in the center of the gol in classic
carpets such as “Zeykhur” and
“Gollu Chichi.” Some weavers
call this pattern “charkhi falak”
or “charkh.”
The “fylfot” was created in the
first millennium B.C. as a symbol
of the sun giving life to people
and comes from the same ori-
gin as the rhomb, considered the
symbol of abundance. The prin-
cipal wish of the cattle-breeding
tribes engaged in farming was
for abundance, productivity,
growth, and a happy way of life.
The rhomb woven in the form
of a gol or filler element in most
samples of Guba carpets is the
element of the beginning of life
and female productivity. This
element is used in the center of
most Guba carpets, including flat
weave sumakh and pile weave
“Shahnezerli” and “Alpan” car-
pets.
The rhomb element exempli-
fies a humanistic essence. Simple
quadrangular rhombs were ac-
cepted as a symbol of abundance,
plenty, and productivity by the
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