Animals played a key part in the development of hand-made oriental rugs.

Nomadic tribes throughout the middle east were largely herders and, as such, had to keep on the move to see that their goats and sheep had ample grazing land.

Early cultures engage in two-dimensional representation of what they see in the world around them- hence stick figure animals much like the crayon pictures that a proud parent would post on a refrigerator.

So take a look at some of these nomadic creations inspired by early textiles, and the contemporary representational images that follow.