Hunting-Ground Design

Hunting is very important in some cultures, such as ancient Iranian culture. The stories related to breast to breast hunting have been told among the people of Iran for centuries. Therefore, it is natural that hunting motifs found their way into Iranian carpet designs. Hunting-Ground carpets were often luxurious carpets that were woven for the king and the royal family to display in their magnificent homes.

If we look at the Pazyryk carpet, which was the first pile carpet discovered in the Scythian king’s tomb, we find that this carpet has hunting scenes, and this shows that this design has been popular among the first human hand-knotteds since 2500 years ago. Despite the discovery of the Pazyryk carpet with a hunting design, animal and hunting motifs in Iranian carpets were greatly reduced until the 16th century. Carpet experts believe that this was due to the influence of Islam in Iranian empires, which considered the image of animals as idolatry. But with the coming of the Safavid kings, hunting motifs appeared again on Iranian carpets, and the Safavid kings ordered carpets with hunting motifs from the weavers for their royal palaces and as gifts to other kings. Hunting-Ground carpet is popular for several reasons that we mention:

• Carpets with hunting patterns showed courage and bravery, that’s why it was the attention of nobles and kings.
• Hunting rugs feature hunting scenes that depict wildlife, hunters, and nature, which are popular for a variety of reasons.
• The hunting scenes on these carpets symbolize adventure and bravery, and these symbols may have cultural significance.
• Hunting rugs are of special interest to collectors due to the historical reasons they have in their nature.