Page 31 - Azərbaycan xalçaları

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Azerbaijani carpets / TABRIZ GROUP
On the right border, a little below the center, Farhad II is depicted. Farhad II is Gudarz’s
son, who was one of the heroes during the reign of Keykavus Ibn Keykubad, the second
king of the Kayan Dynasty.
At the bottom of the main border on the right corner, Azerbaijan’s great poet Nizami
Ganjavi (1141-1209) is depicted. The poet wrote in Persian and Turkish and his literary
heritage consists of five poems, totaling 20,000 couplets of "Divan".
His lyric is distinguished for its consummate craftsmanship, his all-inclusive attitude
toward love, and his humanist thoughts about human destiny.
Nizami’s creativity, which is the epitome of the Eastern Renaissance, reflected the most
humanist, socio-political, social, and spiritual ideas of his time.
Nizami was also a patriotic man. He tried to connect every event he described with
Azerbaijan and praise its history.
Nizami Ganjavi’s creativity influenced the growth of the literature of the Northern
Caucasus and the Near Eastern nations (Persian, Tajik, Indian, Afghan, Kurd, Turkmen,
Uzbek, Kazakh, Kirgiz, and others) with its promotion of humanism and professional-
ism and has since become part of the treasure of world literature.
His works were translated into many languages. Copies of his manuscripts are kept
as rare materials in famous libraries, museums, and manuscript collections. In Ganja,
where Nizami was buried, an immense tomb was erected.
On the top of the middle field of the carpet, Shapur I is depicted. Shapur I (239/241-272)
was a Sassanid king. He conquered considerable areas by following his father Ardashir
I’s policy of increasing the country’s territory. In 260, he destroyed the Roman army
near Odessa and captured Emperor Valerian. Valerian kissed Shapur’s feet and begged
for forgiveness. His inscriptions (written on a stone) occur in Naqsh-e Rustam, 35 kilom-
eters below Shiraz. In Shapur’s period, projects for artificial irrigation and construction
were begun and cities were built. Zoroastrianism also became stronger in his period.
On the bottom of the middle field Sultan Hussein is depicted.
Sultan Hussein (1438-1506) was Khorasan’s shah (1470-1506), the last prominent rep-
resentative of the Timurids. The poet seized power in 1470 and appointed his former
classmate, Alishir Nava'i, as grand vizier in 1472. After sultan Husayn Bayqarah, the
feudal arguments and struggles for authority among his sons weakened the country. In
1507, the state’s power ended due to the Shaybanids. Sultan Hussein, who highly valued
science, literature, and art, is the author of “Majlis al-Ushag” (Children’s Assembly).
On the top of the middle field of the carpet, there are mosques depicted on the right and left. On the right and at the bot-
tom, the mosques belong to the Seljuk period. In addition, several natural scenes are depicted: on the upper left, a plough-
man is ploughing the ground, a peasant is busy watering, and sheep are grazing in a meadow; on the upper right, a peasant
is leading a laden donkey and on his other side there are depictions of a dog and an ox. On the bottom left, there is a man
with a sickle in his hand. The peasants are shoveling the wheat. Another peasant is carrying a load on a donkey. In the bot-
tom left, a woman is carrying water, a gazelle is drinking water, a man is riding on a donkey, and another is on horseback.
On the small and large edges of the border the word “As-Salat Namaz” is repeated fifty or seventy times, respectively. In
addition to the portrait descriptions on the carpet, inside the medallion a basin and an axe are depicted ten times, symbol-
izing the dervishes.
The borders of the carpet are decorated with depictions of lions, repeated up to a hundred times.
The pile of the carpet is wool, while its wrap and weft are made of cotton. The yarn used in weaving is hand-spun and
dyed with natural colors. Sixteen color shades were used. The carpet has historic, artistic, and scientific importance.