The Oriental Collection - Catalog - Page 58
T R A D I T I O N A L PAT T E R N S
Shall
A WORK of ART
Oriental rugs are works of art. They can be found on display
found in cave paintings by Neolithic people. Looking at these
in museums around the world, side-by-side with da Vinci,
rugs is like looking into a time machine and seeing what life
Van Gogh and Picasso. The master knotters were equally as
may have been like centuries ago.
deft with their knotting and designs as the master painters
were with their brushes and palettes. It’s only when we look
As time has progressed, so have rug designs. From sim-
at a rug as a canvas that we can truly begin to appreciate the
ple lines and symbols to incredibly detailed patterns and
storytelling and symbolism that goes into them.
scenes. Rugs were featured in the paintings of Renaissance
artists, exported throughout Europe and found new homes
Storytelling in rugs can be traced back to the Beni Ourain
in the cultural elite. Rugs have transformed from a piece of
and Berber tribes of Morocco. They took their traditions for
practical furniture into a bonified art form with genres, styles
tattoo art and used the same symbolism on their rugs. Some
and masters.
of the symbols on ancient rugs are similar to the symbols
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