Persian Rugs

Persian Rugs are an essential part of the Persian art and culture. Carpet-weaving is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished manifestations of Persian culture and art, and dates back to ancient Persia (currently known as Iran).

• Iran produces several million square meters of carpets annually—about 80% percent of which are sold in international markets.
• Iran is the world’s largest producer and exporter of handmade carpets, producing three quarters of the world’s total output.
• Iran is also the maker of the largest handmade carpet in history, measuring 60,546 square feet (5,624.9 square meters).

Worldwide Directory:

To look at a Persian Carpet is to gaze into a world of artistic magnificence nurtured for more than 2,500 years. The Persian carpet is the finest and most exquisite form of expression one can find and the best specimen’s available today which ranks amongst the highest level of art ever attained by mankind.

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 known. And for many centuries, of course, the Persian carpet has received international acknowledgement for its artistic splendor. In palaces, famous buildings, rich homes and museums throughout the world a Persian carpet is amongst the most treasured possessions.

The earliest carpets are now in existence.

The earliest known Persian carpet was discovered by Russian Professor Rudenko in 1949 during excavations of burial mounds in the Altai Mountains in Siberia. The carpet had been preserved purely by chance. Soon after it had been placed in the burial mound, grave robbers raided the mound. They ignored the carpet but, through the opening they left, water poured into the mound and froze, thus protecting the carpet from decay

Called the Pazyryk rug,

the carpet has a woolen pile knotted with Chiordes knot. Its central field is a deep red color and it has two wide borders, one depicting deer and the other Persian horsemen. It dates from the fifth century B.C. and is now kept in the Hermitage Museum of Leningrad.

Another rug found in the same area, this time with a Senneh knot, dates to the first century B.C.

But, long before that, historical records show that the court of Cyrus the Great, who founded the Persian monarchy over 2,500 years ago, was bedecked by magnificent carpets. Classical tales recount how Alexander the Great found carpets of a very fine fabric in Cyrus tomb.

Categories

Iranian rugs can be divided into three groups;

• Farsh / Ghali (sized anything greater than 6×4 feet),
• Ghalicheh meaning “small rug” is sized 6×4 feet and smaller
• Gelim or Nomadic carpets. Gelim includes both pile rugs and flat weaves.

Below you will find a picture of:

How a Ghalicheh (Small Ghali) is handmade:

And a picture of what a Gelim looks like:

Designs:

Persian rugs are typically designed using one of four patterns:

• all-over, central medallion, compartment and one-sided.

Some abstract asymmetrical design can be found but most of these can be described as one-sided or unidirectional.

The Knots:

Two basic knots are used in most Persian Carpets and Oriental rugs:

• the symmetrical Turkish or Ghiordes knot (used in Turkey, the Caucasus, East Turkmenistan, and some Turkish and Kurdish areas of Iran),
• and the asymmetrical Persian or Senneh knot (Iran, India, Turkey, Pakistan, China, and Egypt).

Turkish knots and Persian knots are made differently.

To make a Turkish knot, the yarn is passed between two adjacent warps, brought back under one, wrapped around both forming a collar, then pulled through the center so that both ends emerge between the warps.

The Persian knot is used for finer rugs. The yarn is wrapped around only one warp, then passed behind the adjacent warp so that it divides the two ends of the yarn.

The Persian knot may open on the left or the right, and rugs woven with this knot are generally more accurate and symmetrical.

Other knots include the Spanish knot looped around single alternate warps so the ends are brought out on either side and the Jufti knot which is tied around four warps instead.

Persian versus Turkish Knot

Typically, a traditional Persian carpet is tied with a single looping knot (Persian or Senneh Knot), while the traditional Anatolian carpet is tied with a double looping knot (Turkish or Ghiordes Knot).

This means that for every ‘vertical strand’ of thread in a carpet, an Anatolian carpet has two loops as opposed to the one loop for the various Persian carpets that use a Persian ‘single’ knot.

Ultimately, this process of ‘double knotting’ in traditional Anatolian carpets results in a slightly more block like image compared to the traditional ‘single knotted’ Persian carpet.

The traditional Anatolian style also reduces the number of Knots per sq cm.

Today, it is common to see carpets woven in both Turkey and Iran using either of the two knot styles. When comparing carpets the only way to definitively identify the knot used is to splay open the pile by bending the rug against itself and looking at the base of the knot.

Cotton

Although cotton came to be used for the warp and the weft of the carpet, the herds of sheep that surrounded the tribes in their wanderings provided the basic material, wool. The cold mountain climate provided an added advantage in that the wool was finer and had longer fibers than wool from sheep in warmer climes.

Colors

A key feature in making the carpets was the bright colors used to form the intricate designs. The manufacture of dyes the involved well kept secrets handed down through the generations. Insects, plants, roots, barks and other substances found outside the tents and in their wanderings were all used by the ingenious tribesmen.

Before the dyeing process could begin, the wool had to be washed and dried in the sun to bleach it. The clean wool was then spun by hand. Since the tribes were constantly on the move and had only small vessels in which to hold the dyes, the dyers were unable to achieve a uniformity in shades, with yarn displaying varying tones of the same color. The wool was loosely dipped into dyeing vats and left for a time that could be judged only by the expert craftsmen. Then the wool was left to hang without being squeezed, which would have left an uneven coloring. Later the wool was dried in the sun.