Jul 31 2006
Antique Persian Rugs & Carpets
Written by David Castriota
Monday, 31 July 2006
Among the carpet-producing regions of the Middle East none is as varied and extensive in its output, or perhaps as ancient, as Iran. It is possible that fragments of ninth century pile carpets discovered at Fostat near Cairo were imported from Iran. In any case, large-scale carpet weaving is attested in Iran by the Mongol or Ilkhanid period c. 1300, as well as for the subsequent Timurid period up through the late fifteenth century.
But the great era of Persian carpet weaving really begins after 1500 with the foundation of the Safavid dynasty by Shah Ismail. In the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Iran produced many of the great masterpieces of Oriental carpet weaving that are still extant today. Major enters of production seem to have been Tabriz, Kerman, and Isfahan, although there is no firm historical documentation for attributing carpets to the last site.
During this period Persian carpets were exported all over the world, from Japan to Western Europe. It is perhaps significant that the lavish carpets captured as booty from the Ottoman Turks after the Battle of Vienna in 1683 consisted primarily of Persian pieces, even though the Turks were themselves major producers of pile carpets. Persian carpets reached their maximum production in the later nineteenth century by which time they had become virtually synonymous with the concept of the Oriental rug.
During this time a great revival, Iranian weavers recaptured much of the range and quality of the classical Persian predecessors, both at old centers like Tabriz and Kerman, as well as in many new areas of Production like Sultanabad or Kashan. Since that time Persian carpets have been made in an almost dizzying array of styles from the finest urban productions to the boldest village and nomadic pieces.
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