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The weaving process of the Kazak Borchaly carpet with empty madder field

The Kazak Borchali rug in the altar of San Giacomo Maggiore (St James) Church, Crema, Italy (woven by ARFP)

DESIGN

1) A Grape Leaf, Cross or an archaic Tengri symbol?

There could be three theories about the origin of the element which is used as a motif of the inner border :

a) The element is called "üzüm yarpaghy" which means 'grape leaf' in Azeri Turkic.

b) The cross shaped motif is an archaic symbol of Tengri (God) in all nations with Turkic origin and was abundantly used in many applied art branches of all Turkic nations. Many antique Kazak-Borchaly (Bordjaou) rugs,  also some antique Kuba and Baku rugs ('Ancient Statue' and 'Gyryz' models) also carry this motif.

c) Does it have any connection with Christianity or not, we can not be sure about it...Our ancestors - Albanians were Christians for centuries. Today in Azerbaijan, there are numerous churches, graves, castles which belonged to Albanians. Also the first church in Caucasia was built in Kish village (Sheki Region, NE Azerbaijan) in the 1st century.

Read about it at http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/84_folder/84_articles/84_kish.html

In the 7th century many Albanians converted to Islam, some remained as Christians, mostly in mountainous areas.


2) Crab motif - used in the central (main) border. The motif is also called "Zulf-Alam" (from the words "hair" and "border") and "Ali-Khanly". The central ornament reminds a grape leaf again.

3) Other ornaments and motifs (explained with the help of the picture)