Horse
Horse rug, Horses has been frequent figures in Persian rugs since the very beginning of the art. Actually they have been depicted on the most ancient piled rug found, the Pazyryk Carpet, woven circa 500 BC. The motif had a focal position in art and crafts of the area even before the date mentioned, most famously Zagros’ Bronze Age civilizations. Some ancient Iranian nomads even bury the past person’s horse with the body.
In a more settled atmosphere of the Iranian Plateau, ancient kings and noble families used to keep horse herds in their lands. Vast natural pastures for horse herds brought wealth and repute as well as glory in warship. Horses were considered the major export from Persia to China.
Ancient Iranians were so found of their horses that they name their children after their horses’ features, colors and races, to indicate their ownership over horse herds. So having an Asp (Persian for horse) in the end of your name would have been a sign of nobility. Lots of these names remained in the Iranian culture, such as Goshtasp, Tahmasp and lohrasp. Horse rug.
Under the Arsacid Dynasty, cavalry found its basic orders as well as its ethics, games, ballads and cultural features of the issue, including trooping and jousting which influenced deeply the Roman Empire and medieval Europe.
With such an enthusiasm to horses, ancient Persian weavers, like Persian jewelers and sculptors and tailors, depicted them on most of their pieces. Other animals had secondary positions for ancient Iranians. Horses depicted on ancient rugs may include winged ones and mounted figures.
During following centuries horses have been depicted more or less on Persian rugs, most probably in nomadic pieces with stylized rendering. It was in the courtly hunting garden carpets of the Safavid Era that they found again an important position.
