Page 12 - Azərbaycan xalçaları

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carpets, as well as in the Tabriz group, and provide symbolic
meanings to express thoughts. And it stipulated the attrac-
tiveness of carpets due to their miraculous colors and their
meaningfulness in terms of content.
Other cheshni with animal descriptions are common with
“Ovchulug” carpets in other woven specimens. They are
mostly known as “Heyvanat” carpets.
One can see dragons and Simurgh bird depictions in Ta-
briz carpet compositions. The mastery demonstrated in the
appearance of the fantastic beasts and slim creatures on the
carpet is so high that there is no doubt that the cheshni were
made by famous miniaturists of that time. Therefore as
other specimens with ornaments and plots, in addition to
the symbolic meanings of the images, the masters tried to
express their feelings in these compositions. For this reason,
the carpets with dragons and Simurgh bird descriptions are
meaningful as additional specimens with plots. The sketch-
es of these carpets were developed by Sultan Mahammed,
Mir Seyid Ali and Mirza Ali (16th century). The carpets ex-
hibited at the Uffizi Museum in Florence, Italy and the car-
pets (16th century) kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New
York, USA are precisely such art specimens.
“Dord Fasil” carpets are different from other Tabriz car-
pets with plot in their artistic nature as a composition al-
lowing the masters to express their fantasy. The main plot
of the carpets consists of the depiction of four seasons. The
field is divided into four sections reflecting spring, summer,
autumn and winter. As a rule, these plots are surrounded by
descriptive borders and mainly reflect the labor and work of
people in different seasons, the symbols related to seasons
and superstitions, signs of the zodiac and mythological im-
ages, and in many cases famous architectural monuments,
all giving the images vitality.
The masters considered the “Dord Fasil” (four seasons)
carpets as a means of expression of their thoughts every time
they tried to use the Azerbaijani decorative-applied arts as
well as of the symbolic meaning of ornaments and descrip-
tions, which are typical for carpet weaving. Giving artistic-
decorative appearance to people’ ancient and new thoughts
in different seasons of the year shows pattern elements in
the composition, and made them an aesthetic source.
The masters describing four seasons of the year with “car-
pet language” besides magnificent architectural buildings
included in the compositions the images of well-known po-
ets and thinkers and it ensured the attraction of carpets along
with token of respect to such famous persons. In this regard
we can state some carpets (19th century) demonstrated in the
Azerbaijan State Art Museum named after R. Mustafayev
and Azerbaijan National Museum of Literature named after
Nizami Ganjavi, as well as marvelous work of art presented
once by Shah Tahmasib to Imam Rza mosque and at present
kept at Mashhad (Iran) museum. The descriptions of Goy
mosque, Oljeitu Khudabanda tomb, Takhti Jamshid palace
complex, Imam Rza mausoleum and other famous monu-
ments, as well as images of poets such as Omar Khayyam,
Firdovsi, Saadi and Hafiz in the “Dord Fasil” (Four seasons)
carpets confirm the aforementioned.
There are also a number of Tabriz group carpets with
similar content and meanings, including the “Dord Fasil”
composition. In general, it is possible to see the motifs and
elements in “Meshali” and “Baghchali” carpets rather like
“Bagh-e Behesht” and “Bagh-meshe”, “Servistan” carpets of
Tabriz group. The most attractive one among “Meshali” car-
pets due to its rich motifs is large carpet of which one part
is kept at Decorative arts museum in Paris (France) and the
other one at the Krakow museum (Poland).
Residence of Gajar Dynasty. Tabriz.