News & Information

One of the most familiar labels applied to Oriental rugs and carpets, antique and new alike, is the term “tribal.” The label evokes a range of associations, most of which suggest something romantically antithetical to our modern western civilized or urban existence. Tribal rugs were or are presumably made by people with a tribal social organization, very likely nomads dwelling in tents, moving from place to place with the herds of sheep and goats that provided the wool for therugs. Such rugs are thought to be woven in designs that have been handed down faithfully in tribal tradition with little or no change for generations beyond recall.  Read the full article, What is a Tribal or Nomadic Rug?

Popularity: 24% [?]

The rug market has never been short of imagination in developing narratives to explain carpet formats, structures, or typological labels. One of the most amusing examples of this is the notion that rugs or kilims woven in separate halves sewn down the middle were made as wedding rugs with one half woven by the groom’s family, and the other woven by the bride’s, and the joining of the pieces as a symbol of the marital union itself. In reality, rugs were produced this way because no wider, large-scale looms were available, and the story evolved to explain away the annoying middle seam to potential customers. Nowadays colorful stories like this are only repeated as amusing anecdotes, rather than as a strategy to make a sale. Read the full article, “Is There Really Such a Thing as a ‘Serapi’ Carpet?”

Popularity: 13% [?]

Written by Joan Guryan
Thursday, 09 November 2006
Twenty years ago, when I first became interested in antique rugs, I was spending my summers in a small rural town in Vermont. I was definitely a novice, though I thought I knew a little more than I did. One of the major events of the weekend was the local auction, at the firehouse.

You always arrived at these auctions early, to preview the auction items, and catch up on the local gossip. You could fine anything from farm implements to fine china. So, occasionally there were antique rugs. While very often these were American antique, such as hook rugs, sometimes there were antique Persian rugs.

One particular auction day, my husband and I arrived early; as we looked around I spotted what I thought was a Sarouk. The rug, though beautiful, with rich blues and reds, did not meet my criteria for buying it. Simply put, I did not love it. Being a novice, I was not sure of it’s value. I was swept away by the excitement of bidding on something I thought might be a treasure. Someone else thought so also. I was approached by a gentleman, who sensed my interest. He asked me if I was interested in becoming his partner on thisrug . I decided that half the investment on something I was unsure of was better than 100%. In hind sight, he probably just wanted me out of the picture, so I would not drive the price up.

Well the gentleman and I bought the rug very cheaply; no one else was bidding seriously on it. We went back to my home to settle up. When I looked the rug over carefully, I decided that not only did I not like it for myself, but it was not such a prize. So I was happy to have Ali buy me out.

I learned a valuable lesson. Stick to my criteria; buy only what I love, from someone I trust. Also, continue search for knowledge about antique rugs.

Popularity: 9% [?]

The area between Shirvan and Daghestan in the eastern Caucasus is Kuba. This area, with its surrounding villages, is the most prolific and justly celebrated source of Caucasus weaving. These days, tourists come to Kuba to see hundreds of apple orchards, which in the spring, fills the air with the scent of apple blossoms. The variety and richness of design and color is so varied and extraordinary that no generalized statement can be made about Kuba weaving.

The area between Shirvan and Daghestan in the eastern Caucasus is Kuba. This area, with its surrounding villages, is the most prolific and justly celebrated source of Caucasus weaving. These days, tourists come to Kuba to see hundreds of apple orchards, which in the spring, fills the air with the scent of apple blossoms. The variety and richness of design and color is so varied and extraordinary that no generalized statement can be made about Kuba weaving.

Kuba was a Khanate of Persia (a Khanate is equivalent to a state or region in the old Persian system). Historians date the transfer of Kuba to the Czarist Russians to 1806. How old then is the city of Kuba? Several different sources state that Kuba did not exist until circa 1750. The United States Embassy, on the other hand, confirms the existence of a majestic 16th-century fortress that dominates the city of Kuba. Nevertheless, this area has been settled for centuries; in nearby Khanalyg, there is a 9th century A.D. Zoroastrian temple.

Many of the dragon rugs and floral designs possibly originated from the Kuba region, which probably have the longest weaving history in the Caucacus. Both of these designs have been attributed by some scholars to a Persian inspiration, while others have suggested a closer link with early Seljuk weaving. The majority of Kuba rugs of the 19th century display crowded floral motifs, either free standing, combined with large geometric motifs, or retained within an allover lattice.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Ancient rugs called Kilims, primarily refer to a type of rug which is flat woven without knotted pile. Because these antique rugs are found across the globe, each region has a different pronunciation and spelling of the name Kilim. Homers Iliad and Egyptian tomb paintings, from the same time period, depict weavers producing rugs and carpets of this kind.

Since this is one of the oldest methods of rug production, it is considered to be primitive compared to Oriental knotted carpets and rugs. Comprised of simple interlocking strands of wool, hair or fiber, they are durable, decorative and used for many purposes. Some of these uses include, clothing, shelter, storage, floor coverings, pillows and barter/trade. Although, antique rugs made of hair or vegetable fiber do not stand the test of time due to decay. Therefore, many antique rugs of this nature have not survived to the present day.

Take a look at our selection of Kilims

Popularity: 9% [?]

Written by Marc Beharry
Friday, 11 August 2006
Featuring the finest carpets and rugs from around the world, the New York International Carpet Show (NYICS) will not disappoint.

New York’s first trade show dedicated solely to importers of handmade Oriental rugs and carpets, will be held in the Gramercy Park Armory on Lexington Avenue at 26th street from September 17-20th.

Organized by renown expert in the field, Dennis Dodds, we can plan to see the latest in contemporary designs, as well as extraordinary antique Oriental and Persian decorative textiles. Some samples of these lovely woven treasures can be found online ahead of time at: http://nyics.com

For more information about attending or exhibiting, please visit their site: http://nyics.com/

Industry professionals are admitted free, so do not forget your business cards. Hope to see you there….

Popularity: 12% [?]

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.

Popularity: 8% [?]

A 20/20 Perspective on a Unique Carpet Dealer

Middle Eastern literature is replete with stories of magic carpets that fly into fantasy and take their passengers to exotic worlds. In truth, that is exactly what an original Persian carpet does, for although you may not think that it flies, the beauty of these rugs is that they were made to be a floor tapestry woven to transport the owner into a world of gardens, flowers, cedars and flowing paradise waters. An escape from a barren world of hot sun and sand was and is created in a thicket of woven wool, cotton, silk and sometimes gold and silver thread. There is not much difference between the concrete jungle of our cities and the antiquity of Tach Jam Sheet (Persepolis). The carpet can make everyone a Shah, an Emir, a Pasha or a King, and regardless of room size, it can make every space a miniature exotic palace.

I’ve been a designer and collector of carpets for 35 years. In the decades of turning pages, visiting exotic lands and surfing the Internet, the task has been to find the dealer with the best eye. Few of us can trundle to auctions, bargain in Farsi and Turkish, jet set our way into strange and difficult climes, and pay obeisance to governments that especially today do not find Americans as lovable as we might hope. The result is our need to find an agent, an ambassador, a consultant, and a friend that can and will act as an emissary to cut the Gordian Knot. Such an agent may find a selection of artworks that in a modern world can fly us to places we fear to visit , or take us to streets and bazaars too difficult to navigate , which are delineated with alphabets as strange as hieroglyphics.

In that the world has unraveled itself into a pre-Columbus map drawn by our modern-day Amerigo Vespucci - Tom Freedman - carpet prices are as consistent whether one withdraws a ruble, dollar, franc or drachma from one’s wallet. Prices in the Central Bazaar in Istanbul, the Island of Kish, Iran or at the Textile Expo in Germany have all become “Ebayed”.

I have lifted many a carpet over with my toe to see a weave, pondered many a volume of curious lore about Middle Eastern floor and wall art, negotiated with at least 100 dealers, sorted by “highest price” on Internet search engines, and googled my way to 300 web sites with keywords like “Antique, Rug, Persian, Oriental, Serapi, Heriz, Agra, Sultanabad” etc., until I found the land beyond the Sambatyan – the land of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, the Mother load of classy, rich, well-designed, antique, genteel and attractive carpets. But, it was not in Tehran, nor by the Bospherous, nor in the mountains of the Caucasus, but with Nazmiyal in New York and New Jersey. It’s co-owner, Jason responded to my fractured Farsi Chey Chabar with Salam a Tee, and we were soon putting in search fields and closing deals from my office and his showroom.

Jason did not request that I take time and write a letter of recommendation. He did not guide my computer keys in which I have waxed prolific in compliments it came as a result of my appreciation for his having saved me the air fare, hours and days of flipping heavy carpets taxing the men who with full brows of perspiration make me feel guilty regardless of venue. I write this out of sincere admiration for Jason’s ability to assemble a collection of the finest designs , whose prices reflect their value. Jason is a testament to that for which I have searched for 40 years, a person who shares my eye chart in the quality of woven art for which I have taken these many years of pleasure.

by Wilbur Pierce

Popularity: 6% [?]

Gabbehs were not originally produced for the retail market. I was introduced to Gabbehs about twenty years ago, when Jason Nazmiyal exhibited his collection in Millburn, N.J. It was the first time that Gabbehs would be presented in the United States. George Bornet, leading expert on Gabbehs, introduced the collection. Because they became a favorite of mine, I have included them in my own personal collection.
Different from other antique rugs they were not influenced by commercial demand. These works of art were not created to order, but to fulfill the weaver’s own artistic endeavors, and for their own personal use.

by Joan Guryan

Popularity: 5% [?]