The 2000 Year Old Pazyryk Rug

Whether your aesthetic preference lays in tradition or modernism, there’s something universally alluring about the history of design. Persian rugs for instance laid the foundation for modern carpet design and carry a lot of historical weight both socially and artistically. One of the oldest Persian rugs to maintain its original condition is the 2000 year old Pazyryk rug which resides in St. Petersbury’s Hermitage Museum.

This beautiful work of antique weaving was left completely untouched in a Pazyryk burial mound located Serbia’s Altai Krai Mountain’s for two millennia. Excavated in 1949 by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko, the rug drew significant attention for its elegant design and it’s West Asian BC origins. An exact date that the rug would have been crafted is unclear but the quality of its preservation is really quite profound.

The design itself is rather fascinating with a series of griffins weaved into the border followed by another border inward depicting 24 fallow deer walking in single file. When the rug was discovered, it was situated next to a female mummy wearing an Indian silk tunic raising further questions about the rugs’ exact origins. Respected textile expert Ulrich Schurmann believes the rug is of Armenian descent while the Persians have stated it’s an artefact from the Achaemenid Empire. Regardless, the area of its discovery is well documented as a trading hotspot between China and Central Asia, so who knows where it may or may not have been?

It’s a beautiful piece of history and one that shows how deeply rooted our contemporary approaches lay in classic Persian design.

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