Hi
I have to make an amendment. The Azerbaijan attribution is a likely one, but not certain. I was tired when I last posted and wanted to cut it short. No shortcut this time. I know it sounds awkward, but for correctness I suggest ‘Wider Upper Mesopotamia’ instead, or abbreviated WUM, until I have thought out an easier term, or somebody else has come forward with a suggestion. WUM is meant to stand for the area east of Euphrates (Far Eastern Anatolia) stretching into Iran including present day Tabriz, and upwards through Mesopotamia from about the latitude of Seleucia Ctesiphon to the Aras (Araxes). This is, from a developmental perspective, the historically probably most important area, that has seen them all, the oldest rug we know of, the ‘Pazyryk Rug’, the biggest and presumably most valuable rug ever, the ‘Spring of Khosrow’ and others that were influential.
The most obvious attribute in the comparison of the two rugs above, is the shared double-diamond medallion. This is a very old form, going back to early Sassanid time, and by implication, its roots lay obviously in the east, in WUM. The ornamented halo with a garland of crosses - probably indicating ecclesia - as the most prominent single element in the chain like in the Pohlmann rug is repeated in a simplified but recognisable transformation in the Kazak rug; fewer crosses in this case, but the remaining ones in proper position. This can be regarded as a quotation of another early Sassanid era form. The same goes for the corner solution with its minute arrangement of dots (often small diamonds in other rugs of the region) that together make up a slightly bigger diamond in which they indicate the four corners. I hold it for quite possible, that the big double-diamond medallion is the much enlarged detail of the two minute diamonds on the vertical axis of the shape in the corners. Both rugs echo an era, when Nestorian Christianity was widespread in the region.
Regards,
Horst Nitz
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