Description
Some of Marazali carpets are decorated by a specific form of boteh. The Marazali boteh is arguably the earliest representation of that motif in Caucasian rugs. ‘Boteh’ means ‘cluster of leaves’ in Farsi (sometimes translated as ‘cluster of flowers’) and there are many and greatly divergent theories concerning its evolution. What is certain is that it is descended from seventeenth and eighteenth-century Kashmir and later Kerman ‘paisley’ shawls. The ‘glow’ surrounding some versions of the boteh (notably Marazali) has been interpreted as suggestive of a religious experience. In the nineteenth century the use of this motif had been widespread throughout Persia, the Caucasus, on Baluch rugs and in Central Asia, particularly on Ersari rugs. The item is also decorated by birds found in Marazali carpets.
