Oriental Carpets: Their Iconology and Iconography, from Earliest Times to the 18th CenturyIn this volume, two and a half thousand years are presented and analysed, The author's research has resulted in completely new insights and relationships -- a revision of the history of the oriental carpet. He has been able to trace the pattern back to Phrygian and other traditions, which were carried on by the Armenians up to the beginning of our own century: carpets as symbols of power, as deeply religious abstract textile icons. The oriental carpet is neither of nomadic origin, nor does its origin lie in central Asia; it is a product of ancient oriental civilisations in the Armenian uplands at the crossroads of the oldest trade routes between west, north and south. The author's assertion is supported by the visual material he presents. For the first time coloured illustrations of the most important and most splendid examples of every type of carpet have been included. The illustrations include book illumination, paintings, arts and crafts and details of architecture and clarify developments hitherto unrecognised. This work documents what is probably Armenia's main contribution to world history. It is a must for any connoisseur of carpets and for anyone who does not wish merely to dream of the Orient. Volkmar Gantzhorn has specialised in Christian and Islamic art in recent years. His continuing research is concerned with surface ornamentation in book illumination, architecture, ceramics and arts and crafts in general. --jacket. |
Contents
Foreword by Robert Bartlett Haas | 10 |
From the Beginnings to the High Middle Ages | 47 |
The Pazyryk Carpet and the Emergence | 48 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
15th century Aksaray Anatolia antependium arch-form carpet Armenian carpets basic form type Berlin BMIK BOIM border from ill Border-Type Carpet design carpet ill carpets of Group centre church Cilicia codex colour cross composition cross-rosettes cross-star cruciform cushion chuval CX HG dated detail from ill diamonds dragon carpets early eight-pointed star Erdmann Erivan Ersari Evangelistary evolution example field design filling fragment Fritz Nagel Greek cross Holbein carpets Holbein guls Ibn Battuta inner panel Istanbul Julfa Keir Collection knotted-pile carpet Konya Kotshak cross Kunst leaf-form crosses light-symbol cross lilies main border Mamluk Matenadaran Mevl Monophysitic mosaic motif Museum of Art octagon octagon centre origin outer shape painting Pazyryk Persia present author Private collection production region Salor Saryk secondary border shows Soumak star-tile step-form cross Stuttgart symbol Tekke Textile Museum TIEM tion tree of Jesse Türk ve Islam Urartian Ushak Vakf variant Yomud