Magic carpets

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Q: Historically, why do the Middle East and the Orient have a richer tradition in carpet weaving than Europe? A: Carpet weaving probably developed independently in several different places but because textiles are fragile, we can never have a complete picture of the history of any textile technique. The oldest surviving carpet fragments date to the 5th century BC and were discovered in a frozen tomb in Siberia. Others of slightly younger date have been excavated in dry conditions in Central Asia, Iran, Iraq and Egypt. It is possible that carpets were made in Europe at similar dates, but nothing has survived in our damp climate. When we look at historical periods – from the 9th and 10th centuries – we read that carpets of great renown were woven in Islamic Spain and were exported from there to Egypt and Baghdad. By the 13th century we find carpets depicted in paintings by Italian artists and we assume those carpets were woven in the East Mediterranean and exported to the various Italian city-states. The earliest carpets that have survived date from the late 13th and early 14th centuries and were found in mosques in Turkey – they are thought to have been woven around Konya. Marco...