The Fabulous Rugs of Persia

The story of the first Oriental rug recorded in history reads like a fairy tale. It is a Persian translation of the Tabaris Annals. "When Ctesiphon, the residence of the Sassanids, rulers of Persia, fell into the hands of the Arabs in the year 637 a.d., they found in the royal palace a colossal carpet of 1,051 square meters (equal to 150 x 75 feet) which was originally made for Chosroes I. His successor, Anaschar, used it also, but only during the stormy weather when remaining in the gardens was impractical.

The festivities were then transferred to the palace where a garden with the beauty of springtime was represented by the pattern of the carpet.

This was the Winter Carpet that was called in Persia The Spring of Chosroes. Its material, which was marvelous and costly, consisted of silk, gold, silver and precious stones. On it was represented a beautiful pleasure ground with brooks and interlacing paths, with trees and flowers of springtime.

On the wide borders surrounding it were represented flower-beds in which precious stones colored blue, red, yellow, white and green denoted the beauty of the flowers. Gold imitated the yellow-colored soil and defined the borders of the brooks where the water was represented by crystals. Gravel paths were indicated by stones of the size of pearls.

The stalks of the trees were of gold and silver, the leaves and flowers of silk, the fruits of many-colored stones." This fabulous carpet was cut into pieces and given to the Arab soldiers as loot, each man getting a fragment worth about two thousand dollars. The value of the whole had been set by ap­praisers at seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.