Dear all,

In another thread the “Tabriz” origin of the Caucasian Blossom carpets has been raised.

The long-standing debate as to the source of the Caucasian dragon carpets, with suggestions ranging from East Turkey to the Caucasus and to Persian Azerbaijan, needs to be updated.
Although they have been attributed to Kuba, the Armenians, and the peoples of East Turkey, where many of them have been found, there was a suggestion made several decades ago that they were woven someplace in the Karabagh region in the general area where most of their 19th century descendants were found.
Shusha, as probably the largest population centre in the region was, without any direct evidence, cited as a likely source.
In the meantime Wright and Wertime (Caucasian Carpets and Covers: The weaving culture –pp26) argued for an origin in the Tabriz area, pointing out that Shusha was not founded until 1752, sometime after many of the dragon rugs must have been made.

Now an early history of the Karabagh provides information that again opens the possibility of a Shusha source. The account was written by a local gentleman from one of the aristocratic families, who made his career as scribe to several local rulers. As he was writing shortly after the events in question, he would seem credible when he points out that it was in 1754 that the fortress of Shusha was built on land previously used as pasturage by villagers from the nearby town of “Shushi”. Subsequently it was residents of this town that moved into the completed fortress. Obviously the town had been there for some time and was simply being upgraded to a fortified stronghold in the mid 18th century.

Source: SOVRANI TAPPETI – page 93.
G.A Bournoutian – A History of Qarabagh: An Annoted Translation of Mirza Jamal Javabshir Karabaghi’s Tarikh-e Qararbagh – Costa Mesa 1994 – pp 71-2

Thanks,

Daniel