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Caucasian
Caucasian rugs
are woven by tribal weavers of the region south of Russia,
near the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black and Caspian
Seas. This area includes the countries of Georgia, Armenia,
and Azerbaijan. There are approximately 350 different tribes,
speaking 150 different dialects in this area. Caucasian rugs,
even though made by different weaving groups, still have very
common characteristics. Some Caucasian styles include the
Kazak, Karabagh, Gendje, Talish, Shirvan, Baku, Kuba and Daghestan.
Caucasian rugs have been influenced by Persian, Anatolian,
Turkoman and Chinese styles.
One common characteristic
among Caucasian rugs is the positioning of similar shapes
in different sizes next to one another. Another common characteristic
is their colorful and bright palette. Colors of blue, red,
purple, yellow, green, navy, black and beige can all be combined
in one rug. The patterns are very geometric. The common designs
tend to be stripes, crosses, squares, diamonds, hexagons,
triangles, botehs, 'S' shapes (derived from old dragon designs),
some very geometric animal figures such as crab and tarantula,
and even sometimes geometric human figures. The crab figures
are mainly woven in the borders. The shapes tend to be placed
inside one another. For example, a diamond might be inside
several bigger diamonds or other shapes. The layout could
consist of a large single medallion, large multiple medallions,
or it could be all-over. It is very common for steps and hooks
to form the outer borders of the motifs. Most rugs tend to
have several minor borders, which are filled with motifs.
Sometimes the background is very crowded and sometimes it
could be solid.
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Very
unique prayer rugs are also woven in this area. Caucasian
prayer rugs are very unique in that they have a six-sided
geometric mihrab (prayer niche) with very defined angles.
The background is usually filled with a repeated all-over
motif such as boteh, flower or lattice. The mihrab is
not easily recognized against the crowded background.
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