Persian carpet & Kilim
Historical evidences show that Iranians have been familiar with weaving fibers to make flooring for more than 5,000 years. And the discovery of the Pazyryk carpet related to the Achaemenid period (pic 1) or historical quotations from the Baharestan carpet related to the Sassanid period shows that the Iranian (Persian) carpet is more than 2500 years old as we know it today.
However, the global prestige of classical Iranian (Persian) carpets began mainly during the Safavid period and, of course, continues, so that now Iranian (Persian) carpets adorn the houses of art lovers and magnificent buildings around the world, including the largest carpet in the world. This carpet covers an area of 4000 square meters of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in the UAE capital. (pic 2)
Iranian handmade carpets, which have generally been the work of Iranian women artists, from the past to the present, have gained worldwide fame due to several elements. Elements such as natural and varied colors, traditional dyeing methods of cotton, wool, and silk fibers, as well as unique designs of each rug that reflects the Iranians’ view of the world, myths, nature, and lifestyle, make the Iranian carpet to a worldwide brand. (c-3)
The basis of the Persian carpet is the knots that are tied along the drawn threads from various fibers. Sometimes thousands of knots of different colored fibers are tied over a string to finally form the overall design of the carpet. (c-4)
The number of stretched threads placed next to each other, the density of the pixels, the degree of accuracy in the details of the designs that are created on the carpet are the determining factors of the value of the Persian carpet along with the design, color ,and material of its fibers. (c-5)
On this basis, the Persian hand-woven carpets can be divided into two general categories: carpets and kilim. The main difference between kilim and carpet is, firstly, kilim has no lint, and secondly, it is often woven from the wool of domestic animals. Also, the designs used in kilim are usually simple geometric shapes and mostly mental. Historical findings show that kilim is older than carpet and is, in fact, the primitive form of today’s carpets. (c-6)
The most well-known Iranian kilims are Shahsovan, Lori, Hersin, Baluch, Khamseh, Saneh, Turkmen, Qashqai, Afshar, Zarand, and Anbaran, but the Persian handwoven carpets are produced in almost all parts of Iran, that they could be identified by their designs, colors and the type of fibers used in them. The most well-known Persian carpets are woven in Tabriz, Isfahan, Arak, Qom, Qaen, Kashan, Kashmar, Nain, Shiraz, Mashhad, Kerman, Ravar, Semnan, Gorgan, Neishabour, Hamedan, Yazd, Turkmen, Bakhtiari and Qashqai carpets.