History and Techniques
The oldest carpet known today goes back as far as the 5th Century b.c. and was discovered in the burial mound of a Scythian chief in central Asia in the Pazyryk valley, from which it takes its name, in the Atlas mountains. It is of great beauty and very fine workmanship. Experts still debate today over its origin. Some say that it is Persian because of the costumes of the horsemen depicted on it, while others say that the workmanship is Scythian and yet others that it was made by the nomads of Turkmenistan.
It is however presumed that
both the people's of central Asia and the Persian learnt the art of knotting carpets from
the Mesopotamians. Ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Xenophon mention it in
their accountsof the peoples of Asia Minor.
In more recent times the art has flourished and continues to do so in many areas of Asia
Minor and Central Asia. Persia, Turkey, Russia and China are famous for their production
of carpets and for some decades now the art has also seen great development in some areas
of Pakistan and India
Turkish knot
Persian knot
An illustration of knotting techniques is shown in the drawings below. The density of the knots and the tightness of the threads of the weft against the lines of the knots determines the fineness of the work and therefore the quality, the durability of the carpet and, naturally, its price. The fineness of the work is not constant in the area it comes from but varies with each single carpet and consequently the name of a carpet does not determine its price. It follows that carpets can have the same name but very different fineness and price.
