Two ancient Azerbaijani carpets brought back from USA
By Nigar Orujova
Two antique Azerbaijani carpets from the collection of Grover Smith, a former member of the Chicago Oriental Rug and Textile Society, have been delivered to Azerbaijan's capital Baku.
The 17th century Garabagh carpet Dragon and Shirvan carpet Salyan Hilesi dating back to the 19th century were passed on to the Azerbaijan State Museum of Carpet and Applied Art by US citizen Beverly Smith on June 18.
Fikret Babayev, Department Head at the Culture and Tourism Ministry, said at the carpet transfer ceremony that ancient Azerbaijani carpets are kept in well-known museums and private collections around the world.
He said the government is taking due measures to return material values of the Azerbaijani people to the country.
"From this point of view, today's development -- the transfer of the two oldest Azerbaijani carpets to the museum by Mrs. Beverly Smith from the collection of her late husband Grover Smith -- has special significance," Babayev said.
The Ministry has sent a letter of gratitude to Beverly Smith.
Roya Tagiyeva, the head of the Carpet Museum, stressed that the Garabagh carpet Dragon will help to discover other carpets woven based on this model. Until now this rare antique rug has been listed nowhere as an Azerbaijani piece and returning it home is certainly an important development.
Famous artist and carpet master Eldar Mikailzade, as well as Alberto Boralevi, chairman of the International Conference on Oriental Carpets (ICOC), and Stefano Ionescu, an ICOC member, also stressed the importance of Azerbaijani material and cultural values being brought back from foreign countries.
It was noted that the respect of US citizens to Azerbaijani culture, in particular, to carpet art, is a graphic example of intercultural dialogue.
Beverly Smith expressed satisfaction with handing over the Azerbaijani carpets to the museum.
An exhibition, "Azerbaijan carpets with a dragon", which includes carpets of different schools, was opened within the ceremony.
Collector Koos de Jong presented the museum a book on carpets titled "The Dragon and the horse".
Carpet-weaving art is one of the ancient crafts of Azerbaijan. The country's cultural heritage including samples of carpet-making art rightfully hold their place in the precious pool of the world artistic heritage.
Most of rare art works showcased in museums and private collections around the world were either purchased or taken, at different times, from Azerbaijan by foreign travelers, merchants, diplomats and academics, or were stolen.
Nowadays, Azerbaijani art samples from Tabriz, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Gazakh, Guba, Baku, Sheki, Shamakhi and Garabagh can be found in the rich museum collections of Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as well as museums in Vienna, Rome, Berlin, Istanbul, Tehran, and Cairo.