Introduction:
Traditional Eastern art forms blend form, decoration, and function within an integrated whole. Where better do beauty and function converge than in a fine Oriental rug? The culmination of a lengthy chain of labor and love, from the herdsmen and shepherds to the dyers and weavers, a fine Oriental rug is an exquisite work of art. Delightful to the touch and pleasing to the eye, each rug has its own character, and tells its own story.
Weaving originated thousands of years ago after domestication of sheep in ancient Mesopotamia and of goats in the Zagros Mountains. Since wool decays over time, it cannot be ascertained when pile-rugs were first made. The oldest surviving rug known was discovered preserved by ice in the Pazyryk Valley of Siberia. The Pazyryk Rug, as it came to be known, dated to approximately 500 B.C.E., was possibly woven under the Achaemenid dynasty or by Iranian nomads in Scythia. The sophistication of the Pazyryk rug indicates a long previous history of rug weaving/knotting. Though rug styles, patterns and motifs have changed and evolved through history, methods of rug manufacture have changed little since ancient times.