Carpet Museum shows historic jewelry from Qajar Dynasty

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum (ANCM) stores one of the finest collections of exhibits. The museum has recently displayed jewelry and rugs from its collection. Mark your calendars to visit the ANCM and enjoy these stunning exhibits!

Gold? pendants

A year ago, the ANCM live-streamed? virtual exhibition opening, the first event of this kind in Azerbaijan. The exhibition included the gold? pendants with? polychrome enamel purchased at the world-famous Sotheby's.?

The pendant demonstrates the artistic features of the Qajar style. One side of the pendant is decorated with shiny enamel, while the other one with enamel, precious stones and patterns typical for that time.

Images of blossoming flowers and bids adorn the pendant’s surface. Lotus flower and birds enhance the pendant’s upper part.

The central part is decorated with eight transparent moon stones, the edges of which are like flower petals. There is a large, embossed, polished octagonal ruby ??medallion in the middle of the jewelry. The  lower part is decorated with seven palmettes and pearls hanging from rings.

A moon-faced girl with fused eyebrows, a symbol of oriental female beauty surrounded by a floral composition graces the reverse side of the decoration.

Sumakh carpet

On March 13, 1967, the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR? issued order? No. 130 on the establishment of the world's first Carpet Museum in Baku. Let's learn more about the? sumakh, the first exhibit of the museum's Flat-Woven Carpets collection.

This sample of a flatwoven carpet was included in the collection on December 18, 1967. The carpet was woven? based on? the? Gollu-Chichi? carpet of the Guba carpet group.?

The medallion's design in its central field is formed on the? Golbendlik? composition. The crossed branches of the medallion representing? khatai? element give this object a special artistic significance.

Chul?

Chul is a decorative cover that was used to protect and decorate the backs of different beasts of burden.

The horizontal stripes of different colors are decorated with the stylized bird images and? zanjira, a? symbolic image of a dragon,? as well as human images and various little stars, featuring the cosmological thinking of our ancestors.?

Tamga (stamp) images in the shape of a peacock are associated with mystical ideas about the world enhance the object's design.?

Chul? or a horse or camel cloth was also among the museum's first exhibits. This carpet product joined the collection back in 1967. ?

Founded in 1967, the National Carpet Museum holds more than 14,000 exhibits of the finest Azerbaijani carpets.

The museum, initiated by eminent carpet artist Latif Karimov, is beautiful inside and out. The museum's new building is designed in the form of a rolled carpet.

Now, the museum hosts multiple events, including international symposiums, conferences and various exhibitions.

In 2019, the museum received the national status for its significant contribution in popularization and promotion of the Azerbaijani Carpet Weaving Art.

In 2020, the Carpet Museum enriched its collection with beautiful pile carpets purchased by the Culture Ministry at Sartirana Textile Show in Italy.

The 19th century Guba carpet "Ugakh" was donated to the Carpet Museum, while Karabakh carpet "Chelebi" enriched the collection of the museum's Shusha branch.

The Carpet Museum also focuses on cooperation with the world leading museum organizations.

The exhibition "Echo of Soviet Azerbaijan. Carpet. Embroidery. Poster " held at the Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow in partnership with the Mardjani Foundation and the exhibition named "Azerbaijani carpets in the collection of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art held in Istanbul are among such projects.

Moreover, the Carpet Museum won Travelers' Choice Awards for the fourth time in a row last year.

The award proves once again that the professional activity of the National Carpet Museum is highly appreciated by visitors from all over the world.