The Carpet (Rug)

This Carpet was made in the Bogoucharovo estate of Khomyakovs’ in Tula province by serf craftsmen. The estate was located seventeen kilometers from Tula. The old estate belonged to the Khomyakov family since the XVII century. The composition of the carpet is an image of the countryside estate of the landlord. In a naive manner are woven a view of the city; the fortress wall, the river, the bridge and houses behind fences. The centerpiece of the carpet is a view of a hill area with two streams running through it. Up on the hill are a manor house with two wings and a Park with a menagerie. There are also scenes of life in a manor: a man in a costume of the XVIII century surrounded by flowers and fruits, the fruits of his work, under the shade of trees are pastoral motifs. The lower part of the carpet is a kind of forest with wild animals. Crowns of trees and animal fur are made in a Berber (looped) technique. The background and most of the images are made in a flat technique.
Probably the carpet recreates exact plan of the estate, but most likely it is a generalized, ideal image of an estate of the Noble, as it was envisioned in the XVIII century under the influence of ideas of Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot. Right in front of us is captured for posterity the image of a Russian mansion, the image of the bygone brilliant era.