We use cookies on this website. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy and for us to access our cookies on your device.
Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: IRAN TURKEY CAUCASUS RUGS
HEADLINE: Antique Rugs From Caucasus, Iran, Turkey Reflect History in Patterns
TEASER: Centuries-old weavings are on display at the Denver Art Museum in the United States
PUBLISHED AT: 02/06/2023 8:30am
BYLINE: Scott Stearns
DATELINE: Denver
VIDEOGRAPHER: Scott Stearns
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Reifenrath, MAS
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT:
VID APPROVED BY:
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[Centuries-old weavings from the Caucasus, Iran and Turkey show the individual stories and intertwined histories of the region in a museum exhibit in the Western U.S. state of Colorado. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns has our story.]]
((NARRATOR))
The Denver Art Museum is showing dozens of woven designs from the past 500 years from what is present-day Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Museum Director Christoph Heinrich says some of the rugs bridge thousands of kilometers, including this 1700s design from the Caucasus with dragons that come from much farther east, in Asia.
((Christoph Heinrich, Denver Art Museum))
“This is one of the many indicators how these carpets were connectors between different cultures and were really bringing motifs, symbols, information from one country to another.”
((NARRATOR))
Woven materials survive because they are unbreakable and relatively easy to carry. People used rugs to pray, to keep warm and to sleep, as with this thick-piled Turkish Yatak, which served as portable bedding.
((Christoph Heinrich, Denver Art Museum))
"It gives you a sense of the variety of uses. Nowadays, a rug is usually something you put on the floor and it keeps the floor warm and your feet. But at that time in the 19th century, it was a bed. And a very practical, and I think when you look at it, it must have been a pretty comfortable bed."
((NARRATOR))
Other Turkish rugs in the exhibit include this Karaman carpet and this Demerci Kula rug, both from the early 1800s. While the weavers themselves are mostly unknown, Heinrich says regional artisans distinguished themselves with the colors of their wool dyes and the patterns of their knotting.
((Christoph Heinrich, Denver Art Museum))
Weaving is a little like pixels. It’s not like when you paint something where you can just make whatever brushstroke, you always have these little dots that you have to think in as a maker.
((NARRATOR))
In the 1600s, the Iranian city of Kerman was a commercial weaving center known for using small vases in designs favored by the Safavid dynasty. Also on display is this fantasy animal carpet with a 13th-century verse from the Persian poet Saadi Shirazi. A favorite with exhibit visitors is this lion from southwestern Iran.
((Christoph Heinrich, Denver Art Museum))
The immediacy of this amazing face looking at you is quite rare. With the different patterns, it is very inventive. When you look a little closer, you have here a whole variety of patches of circles, of different ornaments that are really trying to interpret the body.
((NARRATOR))
Heinrich says the rugs’ rich colors, patterns, and symbols show a deep history of trade and diplomacy across the region. The exhibit runs through May.
((Scott Stearns, VOA News, Denver))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Denver
BylineScott Stearns
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
