Persian Rugs: The timeless appeal

Weaving a Bakhtiara rug by hand.

By Adhid Miri, PhD

Inside the world of carpet making, we witness the splendor of art, the beauty of inscriptions, and the magic of combining colors. This is where human creativity shines, reflecting skill and aesthetics to produce floor furnishings that are, quite literally, works of art.

Rugs themselves were simple articles of need; floor and entrance coverings to protect the feet of nomadic tribesmen from the cold and damp. However, with the passage of time, the increasing beauty of the carpets were discovered by new owners—kings and noblemen, collectors and homeowners—who looked upon them as signs of wealth, prestige, and distinction.

Adored for their intricate designs, sumptuous colors, and matchless craftsmanship—not to mention their investment value—Persian rugs have not only found their way into households and interiors the world over, but also into museums, onto catwalks and concert stages, and in scores of artworks.

History

Persian rugs are among the most important forms of Iranian art, dating back some 2,500 years. The skill of carpet weaving was handed down by fathers to their sons, who in turn handed them down to their offspring. To trace the history of the Persian carpet is to follow a path of cultural growth of one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever seen.

While the earliest known carpet wasn’t discovered in modern day Iran, its story concerns the region and the Iranian people, nonetheless.

In a unique archaeological excavation in 1949, an exceptional carpet was discovered among the snows of the Pazyryk Valley in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. The carpet, found in the tomb of Prince Scythian, was well preserved in ice. Radiocarbon tests indicated that Pazyryk carpet was woven in the eighth century BC.

Archaeologists have surmised that the carpet itself may have found its way to Siberia from Persepolis in Iran, as the motifs featured on it bear a striking resemblance to those that can still be seen around the ancient Persian capital.

It wasn’t until the “golden age” ushered in by Shah Abbas the Great of the Safavid Dynasty in the 17th Century that the Persian rug truly became the “Persian rug.”

During the reign of Shah Abbas (1587 - 1629), both commerce and crafts prospered in Persia. Shah Abbas encouraged contacts and trade with Europe and created a court workshop for carpets where skilled designers and craftsmen set to work to create splendid specimens.

Most of these carpets were made of silk with gold and silver threads as embellishment. Two of the best-known carpets of the Safavid Period, dated 1539, come from the mosque of Ardebil. Many experts believe that these carpets represent the culmination of achievement in carpet design. The larger of the two carpets in now kept in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum while the other is on display at the Los Angeles County Museum.

The court period of the Persian carpet ended with the Afghan invasion in 1722.

Handmade rugs

The art of hand weaving was invented in Persia, and it remains highly traditional. Techniques are carefully passed down from generation to generation, some dating back many hundreds of years.

Some types of Persian rugs are named after the region, city, or tribe of their origin. Some cities and regions have their own distinctive styles or techniques with long histories. Due to this, Persian rugs tend to tell a lot about themselves by their pattern and the way they are made.

Hand woven with the finest materials including wool and silk, a single Persian rug can take years and sometimes decades to create. A weaver will sit in his/her backyard, weaving the forests, mountains, plains, fields, mosque, and even sheep; the various things they were looking at. The cities of the provinces of East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kerman are famous for the finest types of hand rugs.

The bigger the carpet, the more time it takes, and sometimes carpets can be much bigger that one person alone can weave. They may need up to four people working together to complete the task.

Despite Iran’s rich history of producing handmade rugs, the tribal rugs produced in rural villages are under threat from a lack of young weaving talent.

Design

The design of an oriental rug can be divided into different categories. There are stylized, geometric, and figurative patterns in the traditional design. In addition, completely new elements are implemented in modern design, which sometimes stand in combination with traditional ornaments.

The varieties of Persian rugs are also distinguished by their materials, patterns, and weaving techniques, from the floral designs of Isfahan in central Iran to the intricate, fine details of Qom carpets and the strong, compact Bidjar rugs from the Western Kurdish village. Gabbeh rugs, made in the Fars province of southwestern Iran, are perhaps the most traditional carpets, characterized by their bold designs. Some of the most intricate rug designs come from Persia.

Two of the most common designs are the all-over and central medallion patterns. The all-over pattern is a repeating geometric or floral pattern that repeats over the rug. The central medallion pattern is a circular or oval pattern in the center, often a geometric shape.

Floral, geometric, paisley, traditional, and tribal rug patterns differ greatly depending on what area of Iran they come from. The designs of traditional oriental rugs are still drawn with paper and pencil. Nomadic rugs and simpler designs are often knotted purely from the weaver’s memory and without any pattern. The style of the rug thus also indicates the origin of the rug.

Quality matters

A traditional Persian rug is handwoven on a loom, and one of the most important features to look out for is the knot count or density.

The knot density is used to determine the fineness of a rug. You can imagine the knot density as the resolution of a screen. The more knots a carpet has, the more details and the more beautiful are the elaborations

A quality rug will have at least 120 knots per square inch (6sqcm). To appear a carpet connoisseur in front of the seller, flip the rug over and look at the knots from the underside. You’re not expected to count them, but the back of a carpet has a lot to say.

A handmade rug will have a soft backing with a few bigger knots, while a machine-made one will raise an eyebrow due to the knot uniformity. Even in the city of Tabriz, one of the oldest Persian carpet weaving centers in Iran, the knot count will vary from rug to rug.

Care and maintenance

Oriental and Persian rugs are investments. They increase in value as they age and with proper care, any hand-knotted rug can last many decades.

Sunlight is the number one enemy of hand-knotted rugs. Avoid Sunlight. Sunlight will cause the rug to fade, and will dry the oils from the fibers, causing them to become brittle and easily damaged. Rugs that receive any amount of sunlight should be frequently monitored to ensure that any damage is caught early.

Rugs will wear naturally with use. Dirty rugs wear out much faster, making frequent cleaning a necessity. Rotate often to ensure they wear evenly and last for many years, they should be periodically turned and flipped to ensure that the same parts of the rug don’t experience higher levels of foot traffic.

Rugs should be vacuumed regularly using suction only. No roller brushes, as these may pull out fibers, or otherwise damage the rug. Gently sweeping the rug out can also remove dust and debris. Oriental and Persian rugs should never be beaten or shaken out.

Persian rugs can often take years, and sometimes decades to create. A high-quality Iranian carpet can cost tens of thousands of dollars. The most expensive Persian rug ever bought was a 17th-century Persian vase-style carpet, which sold at auction in June 2013 in London for $33.8 million.

Prices for Persian carpets vary about as much as their dizzying array of floral and geometric patterns. The weaver is the first step in the rug making process and makes the least profit. There are a lot of middlemen who make money from the carpet before reaching the final buyer.

Iranian carpets are painstakingly labor-intensive to create, with weavers sitting hunched over a loom for thousands of knots for several months to several years, depending on the size. In the end, if you think you’re paying a fair price, consider it a good deal.

Story sourced from Wikipedia, articles by Jassim Abbas, Al-Qabas, Saif Al-Din Al-Alusi in Gardinia, Joobin Bekhrad, Pontia Fallahi, Andy Ash, and Yusef Jalali, Press TV, Tehran. Special editing by Jacqueline Raxter.