Iran - Andrew Burke [41]
In the villages, small workshops have simple upright looms where weavers can create better designs, with more variety. Designs are usually standard or copied from existing carpets or designs.
Over the last 150 years or so larger village workshops and city factories have begun using bigger and more modern looms. Some still require people to do the weaving, while others are fully mechanised – producing ‘machine carpets’ that cost about half as much as their hand-woven equivalents.
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Persian Kilims, by A Hull & N Barnard, is a lavishly illustrated volume covering most of what you’ll need to know about Persian kilims (not carpets).
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Knots
You may come across the terms ‘Persian (or senneh) knot’ (known in Farsi as a farsi-baf) and ‘Turkish (or ghiordes) knot’ (turki-baf). Despite the names, both are used in Iran: the Turkish knot is common in the Azarbayjan provinces and western Iran.
As a rough guide, an everyday carpet or rug will have up to 30 knots per sq cm, a medium-grade piece 30 to 50 knots per sq cm, and a fine one 50 knots or more per sq cm. A prize piece might have 500 or more knots per sq cm. The higher the number of knots, the better the quality. Nomad weavers tie around 8000 knots a day; factory weavers about 12,000 knots a day.
Buying Carpets & Rugs
Iranians have had more than 2500 years to perfect the art of carpet-making – and just as long to master the art of carpet-selling. If you don’t know your warp from your weft, it might be worth reading up before visiting Iran, or taking an Iranian friend when you go shopping (bearing in mind that professional ‘friends’ who make a living from commission are a fact of life in Iran).
If you know what you’re doing, you might pick up a bargain, but it’s worth remembering that dealers in Western countries often sell Persian carpets for little more than you’d pay in Iran. Unless you’re an expert, don’t buy a carpet or rug as an investment – buy it because you like it.
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know your Persian rugs Andrew Burke
Persian carpets come in almost as many different designs as there are ethnic groups and major urban centres. Usually the name of a carpet indicates where it was made or where the design originated. What you will like is purely subjective, though tribal and nomadic carpets generally appeal more to Western tastes than city carpets. The widest range can be found in the bazaars of Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad and Tabriz.
Azari Weavers in Tabriz are renowned for being able to reproduce any type and quality of carpet, ranging from fine works in silk or with silk highlights, to simpler weaves from the village and tribal groups of the region.
Bakhtiari These carpets are popular with Westerners. Named after the Bakhtiari people, some of whom remain nomadic, they are woven in more than 200 villages in the Zagros Mountains west of Esfahan, notably in the Chahar Mahal region. Wool quality is high, natural dyes are used and the kheshti design, a garden carpet with flower- and tendril-filled compartments, is famous. Most available in Esfahan.
Esfahani The Esfahani carpets are internationally famous for their quality. In the best examples, soft wool and tight knotting is woven around a silk warp and cotton, wool or silk weft. Esfahani designs are noted for their symmetry, usually comprising a single medallion surrounded with vines and palmettos in typical ‘city’ style. They often have ivory backgrounds with blue, rose, and indigo motifs.
Kashani The Kashani carpets are the classic city rugs. The Kashani design is probably the most common in Iran: a central medallion surrounded by dense floral motifs, including palmettos, flower stems and arabesques on fields of red, light green, clear blue and ivory. They are woven of fine wool using tight Persian knots.
Kermani These carpets have long been renowned