The Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum houses a modest but fascinating jewelry collection that includes approximately 800 objects. Most of them date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the most ancient pieces are from the Bronze Age (4000–2000 BCE). The collection presents almost every type of women’s jewelry — earrings, bracelets, rings, pins, and buttons — exhibiting the techniques of hammering, stamping, and engraving. These adornments emerged during archaeological excavations in Mingachevir, Khojali, Gabala, Khinisli, and Garatepe and differed from other examples because of their highly original shapes and rich decoration. The general style of ornamentation illustrates the culture of its time.
The vast majority of the jewelry the museum presents (about 600 items) is women’s jewelry. In addition, the museum’s treasury has some household items, men’s jewelry (including traditional gold and silver belts and gaziri (ornamental bullets)), indispensable attributes of the chukha, a long-waisted outer garment for men. It also houses weapons such as daggers and their scabbards made of niello, incrustation, and enamel.
