NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Persian rugs

The Persian rug is an essential part of Persian art and culture. Thus carpet-weaving is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished manifestations of Iranian culture and art, and dates back to the Bronze Age. Persian art is conscious of a great past, and monumental in many respects. ... In computer science, weaving describes the process of combining different aspects into a complete application. ... Iran (Persian: ایران) is a Middle Eastern country located in southwestern Asia. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

The earliest surviving corpus of Persian carpets come from the Safavid dynasty (1501-1736) in the 16th century. However, painted depictions prove a longer history of production. There is much variety among classical Persian carpets of the 16th and 17th century. Common motifs include scrolling vine networks, arabesques, palmettes, cloud bands, medallions, and overlapping geometric compartments. Some show figures engaged either in the hunt or feasting scenes. The majority of these carpets are wool, but several silk examples produced in Kashan survive. The Safavids were a long-lasting Turkic-speaking Iranian dynasty that ruled from 1501 to 1736 and first established Shiite Islam as Persias official religion. ... This article is about Islamic art. ... This article is about wool, the fiber. ... Silk (< OE sioloc probably < L. SERICVS / Gr. ... Tabatabaei House, early 1800s , Iran. ...

History

With the passage of time, the materials used in carpets, including wool and cotton, decay. Therefore archaeologists are not able to make any particularly useful discoveries during archaeological excavations, save for special circumstances. Cotton is a soft fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...

What has remained from early times as evidence of carpet-weaving is nothing more than a few pieces of worn-out rugs. And such fragments do not help very much in recognizing the carpet-weaving characteristics of pre-Seljuk period (13th and 14th centuries AD) in Persia.

Among the oldest pieces discovered are those found in Eastern Turkestan, dating back to the third to fifth centuries AD, and also some of the hand-weavings of the Seljuks of Asia Minor on exhibit in Ala’edin Mosque in Konya and Ashrafoghlu Mosque in Beyshehir, Turkey. These pieces attracted the attention of researchers earlier this century, and now they are kept in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul and the Mowlana Museum in Konya. Türkistan (also spelled Turkistan or Turkestan) is a region in Central Asia, largely inhabited by Turkic people. ... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολη anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey. ... Konya (also Koniah, Konieh, Konia, and Qunia; historically known as Iconium) is a city in Turkey, on the central plateau of Anatolia. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

In a unique archaeological excavation in 1949 however, the exceptional Pazyryk carpet was discovered among the ices of Pazyryk Valley, in Altai Mountains in Siberia. It was discovered in the grave of a Scythian prince by a group of Russian archaeologists under the supervision of Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko. Radiocarbon testing revealed that Pazyryk carpet was woven in the 5th century BC. This carpet is 1.83×2 meters and has 36 symmetrical knots per cm². The advanced weaving technique used in the Pazyryk carpet indicates a long history of evolution and experience in this art. Most experts believe that the Pazyryk carpet is a late achievement of at least one thousand years of technique evolution and history. Pazyryk is a local name for a valley in the Altai Mountains lying in Siberian Russia south of the modern city of Novosibirsk, near the borders with China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. ... For the republic in Russia, see Altai Republic. ... Siberian federal subjects of Russia Siberia ( Russian: Сиби́рь, common English transliterations: Sibir, Sibir; possibly from the Mongolian for the calm land) is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan constituting almost all of northern Asia. ... Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by an Iranian people known as the Scythians. ...

According to this theory the art of carpet-weaving in Iran is at least 3500 years old.

The Persian rug today

Although carpet production has mostly become mechanized today, the traditional hand woven rugs are still widely found, and usually have higher prices than the machine woven counterparts.

Many fine pieces of the Persian carpet are to be found in The Carpet Museum of Iran in Tehran. Carpet Museum of Iran, Tehran Located in Tehran and founded in 1976, the Carpet Museum of Iran exhibits a variety of Persian carpets from all over Iran, dating from 18th century to present. ... Tehran (also spelled Teheran) (تهران in Persian), population 8,000,000 (metropolitan: 10,000,000), is the capital of Iran and one of the major world cities. ...

Traditional Centers of carpet production in Iran

The major classical centers of carpet production in Persia were in Tabriz (1500-1550), Kashan (1525-1650), Herat (1525-1650), and Kerman (1600-1650). Tabriz City Hall, built in 1895, by Arfaol molk, with the aid of German engineers. ... Tabatabaei House, early 1800s , Iran. ... Herāt (Persian هرات) is a city in western Afghanistan, in the valley of the Hari Rud river in the province also known as Herat, and was traditionally known for wine. ... External links Iran Chamber Societys page on Kerman Tourist information on Kerman Photos of historic sites in Kerman Categories: Iran geography stubs | Cities in Iran ...

The majority of carpets from Tabriz have a central medallion and quartered corner medallions superimposed over a field of scrolling vine ornament, sometimes punctuated with mounted hunters, single animals, or animal combat scenes. Perhaps the most well-known of the Tabriz works are the two carpets perhaps made for the shrine at Ardabil (today in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Los Angeles County Museum). This article needs cleanup. ... The Cromwell Road entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A) is on Cromwell Road in Kensington, West London. ...

Kashan is known for its silk carpet production. Most famously, for the three silk hunting carpet masterpieces depicting mounted hunters and animal prey (currently in the collections of the Vienna Museum of Applied Arts (aka the MAK), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Stockholm Museum). The Kashan rugs are among the most valuable in existence. One carpet, for example, is known to have been sold in Germany for $20,000 in 1969. Silk (< OE sioloc probably < L. SERICVS / Gr. ... Categories: Museum stubs | Museums in Boston ...

The Herat carpets, or ones of similar design created in Lahore and Agra, India, are the most numerous in Western collections. They are characterized by a red field with scrolling vine ornament and palmettes with dark green or blue borders. Lahore (لاةور) is a major city in Pakistan that is the capital of the province of Punjab. ... For other uses, see Agra (disambiguation). ... The Republic of India is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of more than one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical area. ...

The seven classes of Kerman carpet were defined by May Beattie. She identified their unique structure and named it the "vase technique." Carpet types in this group include garden carpets (ornamented with formal gardens and water channels) and the ogival lattice carpets. A fine and well-known example of the later was purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum under the guidance of William Morris. The influence of Persian carpets is readily apparent in his carpet designs. External links Iran Chamber Societys page on Kerman Tourist information on Kerman Photos of historic sites in Kerman Categories: Iran geography stubs | Cities in Iran ... The Cromwell Road entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A) is on Cromwell Road in Kensington, West London. ... This page is about William Morris the writer, designer and socialist. ...

Carpet dealers have developed a classification for Persian carpets based on design, type of fabric, and weaving technique. The categories are named for cities and areas associated with each design:

Introduction

History

The Persian rug today

Traditional Centers of carpet production in Iran

See also

Introduction var ACE_AR = {Site: '756743', Size: '300250'};

History

The Persian rug today

Traditional Centers of carpet production in Iran

See also

Introduction