The
serious study of Armenian textiles is still in its infancy. There
are scattered monographs and catalogues on Armenian carpets [221,
222, 223,
224, 225, 226,
227, 228, 229,
230, 231, 232,
233, 234, 235,
236, 237, 238,
239, 240], lace
and embroidery [253, 254,
255, 256, 257,
259, 260], cloth
fragments preserved in manuscript bindings [241,
242, 243, 244],
ecclesiastical vestments [251, 254],
altar curtains [245, 246,
247], and clothing [258]. However, not one
of the rich textile collections in the Armenian monasteries in Etchmiadzin,
Jerusalem, Venice, Vienna, and elsewhere is graced by a catalogue
or complete inventory.
The complex history of Armenian weaving and needlework was acted out
in the Near East, a vast, ancient and ethnically diverse region. Few
are the people who, like the Armenians, can boast of a continuous
and consistent record of fine textile production from the first millenium
B.C. to the present. Armenians today are blessed by the diversity
and richness of a textile heritage passed on by thirty centuries of
diligent practice; yet they are burdened by the pressure to keep alive
a tradition nearly destroyed in 1915, and subverted by a technology
that condemns handmade fabrics to museums and lets machines produce
perfect, but lifeless cloth.
A.
Carpets
The oldest existing tufted carpet, dating from the fifth to the
third century B.C., was excavated from the frozen Scythian burial
mounds at Pasyryk northeast of the Caucasus in the Soviet Union.
Called the Pasyryk carpet and preserved in the Hermitage Museum
in Leningrad, this extraordinary rug predates other whole examples
by more than 1500 years. The rug is in a near perfect state of preservation;
it is roughly six feet square and the predominate color is red-brown.
The central design is made of geometric star patterns enclosed in
five successive borders, the second of which contains a continuous
line of large antlered animals and the fourth from the center, a
procession of men mounted on caparisoned horses. Recent scholarship
inclines toward Armenia as the place where it was woven, because
of the similarity of motifs in late Urartian and some early Armenian
artifacts, and the long history of tufted carpet weaving in Armenia.
The Scythians, according to this theory, acquired the rug when passing
through the Caucasus.
Whether or not the oldest carpet in the world was made in Armenia,
early Greek, Armenian, and Arabic historical sources repeatedly
speak about the fine rugs and other textiles woven there. Carpets
are mentioned as part of the annual Armenian tribute to the Caliph
of Baghdad in the late eighth century. In the later medieval period,
Marco Polo praises the rugs woven by Armenians. The characteristic
red Armenian dye (vordn karmir) was prized throughout the Mediterranean
world. Unfortunately, no rugs have survived from these early centuries.
There are a few fragments from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
uncovered in mosques in Eastern Anatolia, but no convincing origin
has been established for any of them, though Armenia has been proposed
for several. However, renaissance artists in the west painted rugs
imported from the Near East in precise detail allowing scholars
to establish some of the basic designs of the fourteenth, fifteenth,
and sixteenth centuries.
Until very recently, scholars have dismissed the possible Armenian
origin of these carpets. Though there has been much debate during
this century on the source of the famous "dragon" carpets,
A. Sakisian and others after him propose an Armenian origin for
them. The Armenian province of Artsakh (Karabagh) has retained the
dragon design into modern times, reinforcing the Armenian origin
of seventeenth [221] and eighteenth century
examples. A number of these dragon rugs have Armenian inscriptions
[222].
During the dislocation of the first World War, the production of
Armenian handloomed rugs nearly ended as did that of so many other
crafts. Some survivors, however, continued to weave Armenian rugs
until World War II [239]. Furthermore,
the wholesale destruction of Armenian life and property in Anatolia
and western Armenia from 1915 to 1922 resulted in the loss of heirloom
Armenian rugs passed down in families. In the last two decades a
new interest in Armenian weaving and rug making has resulted in
the re-establishment of the identity of Armenian carpets, which
in this century have been, unfortunately, gradually subsumed under
the heading of Islamic or Turkish carpets. What has helped in the
scientific study of the rugs produced by Armenians has been the
habit, already remarked upon in other arts, of weavers leaving a
written memorial by way of Armenian inscriptions woven directly
into the rugs with names and dates [222,
225, 226, 228,
229, 233, 234,
235, 237, 238,
239]. Hundreds of these inscribed Armenian
rugs have now been recorded and several major exhibitions organized
around them.
The earliest dated Armenian rug is also one of the largest and most
exquisite, the famous Kohar carpet [222]
made in the Karabagh (the Armenian district of Artsakh) with an
inscription identifying the weaver, Kohar, and the date 1700. Another
important carpet woven in 1731 for Catholicos Nersés of Aghuank',
probably in Artsakh, is preserved in the monastery of St. James
in Jerusalem. The rest of the dated and inscribed Armenian rugs
are from the nineteenth and the first quarter of the twentieth centuries
[225, 226,
228, 229, 233,
234, 235, 237,
238, 239].
Armenian rugs, though woven in various regions and in divers styles,
are predominantly of the Caucasian type with vivid colors and broad
geometric designs; often small figures or animals are placed randomly
in the border or field. The most frequently encountered types among
the inscribed rugs are Karabagh (Artsakh) [222,
225, 226, 228,
233, 235, 237,
238, 239], Kazak,
and Gendje or Ganja [234]. The earlier
Karabagh rugs with sunburst or eagle designs [224]
seem to have affinities with the famous dragon carpets [221,
222] of an earlier period. Other Karabagh
types are popular: Kasim Ushak design, cloudband design [227],
jagged red band design, lempe/lampa design [233,
235], Lesghi star design, etc. Armenian
Kazak rugs are classified by the following types: three medallion
design, Lori-Pambak design, Sevan-Kazak design, Karachoph design,
etc. Among the most famous Karabagh carpets are a large number produced
at the turn of the twentieth century with designs copied from western
models [VI/18], which were in great vogue in the Caucasus and Iran.
These fall in two large categories, the rose design rugs [218]
and the pictorial rugs. There are also a large number of Karabagh,
Kazak and village rugs with unique patterns as well as saddle bags
or twin bags [240] from Artsakh.
Another type of pictorial rug was also woven by Armenians in the
various parts of the world they settled in after 1915. These rugs,
usually one of a kind, were woven by individuals to commemorate
an event or to honor a person. Many of these have portraits of Soviet
leaders -- Marx, Lenin, Stalin -- or western statesmen or historic
symbols. Orphan rugs produced by young Armenian women, parentless
survivors of the massacres of 1896 or 1915, under the guidance of
American missionaries, are also numerous. To this day, the rug industry
remains an important part of the organized crafts in Armenia
B.
Woven and Stamped Textiles
Cloth weaving and textile manufacture is universal. Nearly all cultures
engaged in this craft to satisfy need for clothes and coverings.
Carbonized fragments of woven textiles have been found in very early
excavations in Armenia, but they offer little information about
the design and style of early textiles. The fragility of cloth is
the major cause for our lack of early examples. The dry desert climate
of Egypt or the frozen environment of the Scythian tombs of Pasyryk
lacking in Armenia offers the very rare conditions by which early
textiles have survived in quantity.
Our knowledge of pre-seventeenth century woven textiles stems mainly
from their representation in art, sculptured reliefs such as those
of Aght'amar [130, 131]
and especially Armenian miniature painting [69,
79, 87,
89,120], but also
from actual fragments preserved on the insides of the covers of
manuscript bindings [241, 242,
243, 244].
These textile fragments are made of various types of cotton, silk,
linen and other fabrics and have both woven and stamped patterns.
A large number of them are from cloth fashioned outside Armenia
[243, 244]: Iran,
India, even Byzantium and the west. Because nearly every manuscript
up through the seventeenth century used such cloth pieces to hide
the unattractive exposed wood on the inside of bindings [244],
there are thousands of these textile samples preserved. Fewer than
a hundred have been published. Once available, they will serve as
the major resource in reconstructing the history of textiles used
in Armenia from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries.
From the late seventeenth and especially the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries there is preserved a comparatively large quantity of brocades,
embroidery and other textiles almost all used as church decor or
priestly vestments. The most important of these in size are the
altar curtains [245, 246,
247], both stamped and embroidered,
preserved in the collections of the Catholicossate in Etchmiadzin
[246, 247]
and the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem. Most of the eighteenth
century examples are rich in color and form and were produced in
Madras, India [246, 247],
a major center of stamped fabrics, where Armenians were well established.
These were made by stamping prepared cotton fabrics with carved
wooden blocks [248]. This technique was
also known in Armenia and used in earlier centuries, but in the
later times Madras seemed to control the market. Though these large
altar curtains had purely Armenian designs, often the life of St.
Gregory [245] or the conversion of Armenian
to Christianity [246], with long Armenian
inscriptional bands, they were probably manufactured by Indian workers
after designs supplied by Armenian artists.
Among printed or painted altar curtains, other than those produced
in Madras, several are of a particular splendor: a stamped curtain
from Souchava in Romania dated 1663 with a central motif of the
Crucifixion and an upper band devoted to the life of Christ (Etchmiadzin
Treasury); two others on dark blue cloth, probably made in Tokat,
dated 1756 and the late eighteenth century with the Crucifixion
as the most important representation (Etchmiadzin Treasury); others
from Karin-Erzerum, Tiflis, Lim at Lake Van (felt appliqué),
Constantinople (mostly embroidered), and Europe [245].
The Etchmiadzin collection has been the subject of a recent unpublished
thesis in Armenian and the Jerusalem collection of altar curtains
will soon be published.
C.
Needlework: Embroidery and Lace
Richly embroidered Armenian textiles have survived in much greater
number than plain or printed fabrics. These embroideries are mostly
church related: clerical robes [251, 252,
254] and accessories [254],
altar curtains [245, 246,
247], chalice covers [255],
and miscellany. Among the vestments are miters [254],
crowns, copes [252], stoles, collars
[251], belts [VI/33], sleeve bands
[254], chasubles, and slippers. Major
collections with pieces dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth
centuries are kept in the monasteries of Etchmiadzin [250,
251, 252,
254], Jerusalem, the Mekhitarists in
Venice and Vienna [245], Bzummar in
Lebanon and other lesser centers. Rich figural designs on silk,
velvet [252], satins and more modest
materials are sewn in vivid colors, the most lavish employ gold
and silver thread [251, 252,
253, 254],
pearls [251] and other precious and
semi-precious stones. The variety of designs and styles are as astounding
as they are beautiful. The perfection of execution, the rendering
of figures, garments and faces [250,
251] is as magnificent as the best
embroidery work of any period and any nation.
The earliest surviving embroidery is a large thirteenth century
fragment from Ani [249] showing asymmetrical
lions. The most famous embroidery is the ceremonial banner of 1448
[250], still kept at Etchmiadzin, with
full-length portraits of Gregory the Illuminator flanked by King
Trdat and St. Hrip'simé, the major figures responsible for
the Armenia conversion to Christianity on one side [250]
and, on the other, Christ enthroned with the symbols of the four
Evangelists.
Among other outstanding embroideries one should note the following;
the cope of 1601 in the State Historical Museum, Erevan, showing
Christ enthroned with the Evangelists' symbols; a crown of 1651;
a stole of 1736 and another on blue ground of 1685; a series of
shirt collars in the form of short stoles dated 1734 all of embroidered
silver and gold thread on a red ground, the most elaborate of which
depicts the Last Supper on the back and John the Baptist, Gregory
the Illuminator and St. Hakob on the front; embroidered altar cloths
of 1613 from Karin-Erzerum with St. Gregory, of 1619 from Constantinople
on a rich emerald colored ground with silver and gold thread showing
the Virgin being presented with the martyred head of St. James (Hakob)
with scenes from the Life of Christ in the borders (Jerusalem, Armenian
Patriarchate), of 1620 from Constantinople with a monumental scene
of the Last Supper bordered by Christological episodes (Jerusalem,
Armenian Patriarchate), of 1704-1714 from Constantinople with Christ,
the Apostles, St. Gregory and King Trdat, and of 1741 with St. Gregory's
vision of Holy Etchmiadzin; the so-called eagle carpet of Catholicos
Philippos dated 1651 using silver thread embroidery on silk; and
the chalice cloth of 1688 with a central floral motif on a yellow
ground with crosses and seraphim in the border. Except where noted,
all the examples are in the Treasury at Holy Etchmiadzin.
Embroidery was commonly used to decorate towels [253],
bags [257], stockings [258],
kerchiefs, table clothes and various textiles [256,
257]. Among the most famous was the
work of Marash characterized by polychrome geometric and floral
designs on dark or colored backgrounds. The stitching was done following
various grid patterns, designs being built up from star, cross and
braided motifs. This embroidery work [255],
whether of the luxurious variety or the more modest type, was done
in all Armenian families, often during the isolation of the cold
winter months. Many of the richly decorated elements of clerical
garb were votive offerings donated by the pious on pilgrimage.
Armenian lace [259, 260],
called janyak or oya, is executed with a single needle and has an
extremely ancient history. Its technique was known by all women
and passed on from generation to generation. There are different
styles and stitches from the various regions of Armenian; among
the best known are the Aintab stitch, the Vaspurakan stitch [260],
the Baghesh (Bitlis) stitch and the Kharpert stitch. The delicacy
and intricacy of Armenian lace have long been recognized and in
recent years specialized studies and exhibits have been devoted
to it. Early laces of silk and gold thread or decorated with pearls
and jewels were made into chalice covers, and cross and Gospel holders.
Lace borders were also often added to embroidered articles. Scarves
and kerchiefs were often fringed with a variety of miniature lace
flowers.
Few pre-nineteenth century laces have survived. The tradition, however,
is very ancient in Armenia. Lace making in Europe was a craft that
arrived in the late Middle Ages from Asia Minor. Many scholars believe
that the origin of Venetian lace, one of the oldest and most developed
lace making centers, should be sought in Armenia. The merchant cities
of Italy were in close touch with Armenians during those centuries,
so there was ample opportunity to import laces and the technique
of making them.
D.
Costumes
The oldest existing Armenian costume is a rather plain thirteenth
century child's dress found at Ani, but it is the unique piece we
have until the seventeenth century. Liturgical garments are preserved
from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries [251,
252, 254],
but almost no secular examples exist. Nineteenth century garments
are, however, plentiful and from them scholars have been able to
establish the daily as well as special costumes of Armenian men
and women from every region of Armenia. This material has been published
in special albums and exhibited in museums in Armenia and the diaspora.
Our notion of earlier costumes of the ancient and medieval Armenian
periods is based entirely on representations in Armenian art, especially
manuscript illustrations.
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221. Dragon carpet, XVIIth century, Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum.
Photo: Gulbenkian Foundation Archives
222. Gohar carpet, two line Armenian inscription of 1700, Gohar was
weaver of the rug, private collection, U.S.A. Photo: Armenian Rugs Society
223. Embroidered carpet, XVIIIth century, Etchmiadzin, Treasury. Photo:
Gulbenkian Foundation Archives
224. Dragon carpet, eagle design Kazak, XIXth century, Erevan, State
Historical Museum. Photo: Gulbenkian Foundation Archives
225. Artsakh (Karabagh), Nush design, Armenian inscription of 26 June
1810, The Gregorian Collection, U.S.A. Photo: Arthur Gregorian
226. Artsakh (Karabagh), cross and star design, Armenian inscription
of 1815, Erevan, Museum of Folk Art. Photo: Museum of Folk Art
227. Dragon carpet, Artsakh (Karabagh), XIXth century, Erevan, Museum
of Folk Art. Photo: Museum of Folk Art
228. Artsakh (Karabagh), inscription of 1866, century, Erevan, Museum
of Folk Art. Photo: Museum of Folk Art
229. Carpet from Akn, Armenian inscription of 1877, century, Erevan,
Museum of Folk Art. Photo: Museum of Folk Art
230. Serpent carpet, XIXth century, Erevan, Museum of Folk Art. Photo:
Gulbenkian Foundation Archives
231. Embroidered carpet, XIXth century, Erevan, State Historical Museum.
Photo: Gulbenkian Foundation Archives
232. Carpet from Vaspurakan, XIXth century, Erevan, Museum of Folk Art.
Photo: Museum of Folk Art
233. Artsakh (Karabagh), lempe design carpet, ca. 1880, Armenian inscription,
The Gregorian Collection, U.S.A. Photo: Arthur Gregorian
234. Gendje, Armenian inscription of 8 June 1884, Lemyel Amirian Collection,
Palo Alto, California. Photo:Lemyel Amirian
235. Artsakh (Karabagh), lempe design, Armenian inscription of 6 April
1888, The Gregorian Collection, U.S.A. Photo: Arthur Gregorian
236. Dragon carpet, XIXthcentury, Erevan, State Historical Museum. Photo:
Gulbenkian Foundation Archives
237. Artsakh (Karabagh), dragon carpet, cloudband design, Armenian inscription
of 1898, The Gregorian Collection, U.S.A. Photo: Arthur Gregorian
238. Rose Artsakh (Karabagh) medallion design, Armenian inscription
dated 1904, The Gregorian Collection, U.S.A. Photo: Arthur Gregorian
239. Artsakh (Karabagh), three line Armenian inscription of 1917, Lemyel
Amirian Collection, Palo Alto, California. Photo:Lemyel Amirian
240. Artsakh (Karabagh), twin or saddle bag, Erevan, Museum of Folk
Art. Photo: Museum of Folk Art
241. Lining (doublure) of a manuscript binding, lower cover, XVIth
or XVIIth century, Venice, San Lazzaro, Library of the Mekhitarist
Fathers, MS 1028. Photo: Dickran Kouymjian
242. Lining (doublure) of a manuscript binding, stamped cotton with
floral stripes, XVIIth century, Erevan, Matenadaran. Photo: Matenadaran
243. Lining (doublure) of a manuscript binding, stamped cotton with
floral stripes, inscribed binding of 1700, Venice, San Lazzaro, Library
of the Mekhitarist Fathers, MS 1527. Photo: Dickran Kouymjian
244. Lining (doublure) of a manuscript binding, stamped cotton, manuscript
dated 1704, Venice, San Lazzaro, Library of the Mekhitarist Fathers,
MS 1690. Photo: Dickran Kouymjian
245. Painted pictorial cloth, the tortures of St. Gregory the Illuminator,
XVIIIth century, Vienna, Museum of the Mekhitarist Fathers. Photo:
Dickran Kouymjian
246. Curtain, printed cloth, St. Gregory converting King Trdat and
Armenian nation to Christianity, Armenian inscription, 1789, Madras,
India, Etchmiadzin, Treasury. Photo: Dickran Kouymjian
247. Curtain, printed cloth, St. Gregory converting King Trdat and
the royal family to Christianity, Armenian inscription, 1790, Madras,
India, Etchmiadzin, Treasury. Photo: Dickran Kouymjian
248. Wooden patterns used for printing cotton, Erevan, State Historical
Museum. Photo: Ara Güler
249. Embroidery of lions, XIIIth century, from the excavations at
Ani, Erevan, State Historical Museum. Photo: Ara Güler
250. Embroidered processional banner of 1448, on one side, St. Gregory
flanked by King Trdat and St. Hrip'simé, on the other Christ,
Etchmiadzin, Treasury. Photo: Dickran Kouymjian
251. Embroidered vakas, priestly collar, XVIIth century, Etchmiadzin,
Treasury. Photo: Ara Güler
252. Embroider cope of velvet, XVIIIth century, Etchmiadzin, Treasury.
Photo: Gulbenkian Foundation Archives
253. Embroidered cloth, probably a priest's towel, XVIIIth century,
Vaspurakan, Erevan, Museum of Folk Art. Photo: Museum of Folk Art
254. Cape, mitres, cuffs, parts of priestly vestments, embroidered
with silver thread, XVIIIth and XIXth centuries, Etchmiadzin, Treasury.
Photo: Ara Güler
255. Church cloth embroidered with Lamb of God, 1802, Erevan, Museum
of Folk Art. Photo: Museum of Folk Art
256. Needlework, XIXth century, Vaspurakan, Erevan, State Historical
Museum. Photo: Ara Güler
257. Crocheted Purse, XIXth century, Van, Erevan, Museum of Folk Art.
Photo: Museum of Folk Art
258. Embroidered stockings, XIX-XXth centuries, Erevan, State Historical
Museum. Photo: Ara Güler
259. Lace Varieties, Erevan, Museum of Folk Art, XVIII-XIXth century.
Photo: Ara Güler
260. Lace Tablecloth, Van, Erevan, Museum of Folk Art.Early XXth century.
Photo: Museum of Folk Art
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