Shirvan
The Shirvan Carpet Weaving School situated in the north-
east part of Azerbaijan includes Shamakhy, Maraza, Aghsu, Kurdamir,
Hajigabul, Goychay and the surrounding villages. Rich in designs and
complicated in patterns, the Shirvan carpets were popular from the
Middle Ages. German and English travelers and ambassadors of the 16th
– 18
th centuries wrote about the artistic merits of such carpets. Today,
the Shirvan carpets of the 12th -15th centuries are stored in leading
museums of the world. European painters of the 14th - 15th centuries
represented these carpets in their own works. The Shirvan carpets were
woven in large formats and high density of knots, sometimes in sets of
several rugs (dast-khali).
The “Arjiman”, “Jamjamli”, “Gobustan”, “Maraza”, and
“
Kurdamir” designs are the most famous pile carpets of the Shirvan
group. The “Arjiman” carpet from the catalogue was woven in the village
of Arjiman. Shirvan was also famous for its pile-less weavings, palas and
kilim. Pile-less carpets produced in the villages of Pashali and Udulu
were well-known in the world. In Shirvan, various carpet items, such as
sack (chuval), saddlebag (khurjun), trunk (mafrash), horse-cloth (chul)
etc, were also woven.