All hand-woven carpets are one of a kind, but a special few stand out as truly unique among them. The “Gohar Carpet”, woven in Armenia in 1149, is one of these.
The colors and patterns of this 12th-century masterpiece are evocative of antique Caucasian weaving, but the truly unique aspect of this piece is the long Armenian religious script near the top. The text was translated by eminent linguist Norayr de Byzance in 1908:
“I, Gohar, full of sin and weak of soul, with my newly learned hands wove this rug. whosoever reads this say a word of mercy to God for me. In the year 1149.”
The design of the carpet, with large, elaborate palmettes and medallions places it in the Kasim Ushag design format, which, in turn, places it with an extensive series of Caucasian rugs made between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.
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