Image Carpets

The antique Persian carpets of the town of Bijar and surrounding villages in the Northeast of the country are justly famous for their wearability and long life. Along with Kermans, they are the only Persian weaves consistently triple wilted. The strongly compressed central weft gives a stiff, almost board-like character to the carpets. The pile […]

Khorasan Khorasan, province in Northeast Iran, has been on and off a source of antique Persian carpets since the 16th century. Originally, the earliest extent piece came from Herat, now in Afghanistan: classic red grounds, in and out palmettes cartouche and tree carpets, jungle carpets with animals among vegetation and allover repeat patterns close to […]

Kum Kapi Literally “Sand Gate”, these Turkish silk rugs were woven for a short time in the 1920’s by Armenian weavers working in Istanbul. With silk pile and foundation,knot counts run up to 1000 per square inch. The pile is clipped extremely short and details are often brocaded in gold or silver metal bread. Prayer […]

Sarouk, The Sarouk carpet is a relatively recent type of antique Persian rug. In the 19th century there were Ferahans produced in the Arak (Sultanabad) district of northeast Iran. There carpets were generally thin with dark blue fields,sometimes red, with small scale repeating Herati designs in scatters and long carpets (Kelleh). They were primarily for […]

The 1920’s saw a new decorative style emphasizing abstract, geometric and even hard-edged designs, and the Deco carpets of this era (1920-1940) perfectly embody this trend. Art Deco rugs were first a French creation, most directly represented by the Cubist work of DaSilva Bruns from the 1930’s The American middle class was supplied by Chinese […]

Senha Rugs Senha (Sanandaj) is the capital of Kurdistan province in northwest Persia. From the early 19th century onward, the town specialized in finely knotted rugs (and a few larger carpets) with brisk, very short piles, and flexible handles. The patterns were both all over and centralized. The Herati and Boteh designs were particularly popular. […]

Agra Rugs and Amritsar Rugs Agra, in northern India, was once the capital of the Mughal Empire. Historical records indicate that carpet weaving on a significant scale began in the late 16th century, but it is a matter of open debate if the carpets popularity called “Esfahan” were woven in Agra or in the eponymous […]

Oushak Rugs Western Turkey Rug weaving in Oushak goes back continuously to at least the fifteenth century and is the longest established carpet industry in the world. Always a commercial center, Oushak carpets have been woven for domestic and export markets from the beginning. Very early Oushak carpet types are named for the European artists […]

Chinese Peking Carpets The capital city of Peking (Beijing) has been a carpet weaving city on-and-off over the last 400 years. In the 16th century the Ming emperors patronized a small output of extraordinary, often very large, carpets for household use. These often feature imperial dragons or overall tile patterns. Not just rectangular, these carpets […]

Chinese Art Deco Carpets For a twenty year period, say 1920 to 1940, the coastal city of Tientsin (Tianjin) in China produced entirely for export and under the aegis of American firms, thick, lush carpets with asymmetrical designs in colors never before used in oriental rugs. Rather than a symmetrical layout with field and border […]

Isfahan Rugs of the 20 century There are Isfahans, and there are Isfahans and there are Isfahans by master weavers. After a lapse of more than 200 years, rug weaving in the Persian city of Isfahan was revived in the early 20th century by the master artisan Ahmad. Production of fine rugs grew steadily and […]

Natural silk, Artificial silk and the rugs made from them Silk rugs are the height of luxury and opulence, made as much for display as for daily use. Natural or real silk is made by unwinding the cocoons of the silk worm (Bombyx mori). To produce 1 KG (2.2pounds) of silk yarn, 104 kg (230 […]

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Haji Jalili Style Tabriz carpets. The most notable and characteristic high quality Tabriz carpets of the late 19th century- early 20th century are those usually ascribed to the Haji-Jalili workshop. Unlike Kerman carpets which are often signed by the master weavers, Tabriz work is usually anonymous, and it is better to consider Hajji Jalli as […]

What is the difference between Heriz, Serapi, Gorevan, Bakshaish Carpets? Since the late 19th century the Heriz district of Azerbaijan in North West Persia has been one of the most popular and prolific carpet weaving areas, located about 40 miles east of Tabriz and comprising nearly 30 villages. The Heriz area has specialized in room […]

Mohtasham Kashan Rugs: Properly said, the term “Mohtasham “ refers to Kashan rugs made from c.1882 until 1914 woven in a particular atelier with a specific quality wool. Hajji Mollah Hassan Mohtasham, was an importer of English yarn and textiles active in Kashan in the second half of a 19th century. He first began employing […]

A Comparison of Kazak and ShirvanCaucasian Rugs. By for the most popular of Caucasian rugs are the Kazaks from the southwest and the Shirvans from the northeast of the region. They could not be more different in design style or physical construction. Taking the latter first, although many villages in theKazak area weave various designs, […]