Area Rugs - Tabriz rugs, Kazak Carpet, Sarouk Ferahan Rugs

The carpet and rug bazaars of Tehran or Tabriz are places where old and new, classic and contemporary come together; international rug trading is an ancient art and a modern industry. The quantity of sarouk rugs available at such bazaars can be overwhelming, and the international buying public is fortunate that, to be sure, only the best will reach their door. The masses of sarouk rugs will be picked over by knowledgeable dealers and merchants with scrutinizing eyes, ensuring that the best of the best will make it onto the boat or plane.

In some ways, this quality control is what an importer is all about. Buyers will reject outright more than half of what they see. Further inspections may reveal less noticeable imperfections, and the number of selected sarouk rugs will be whittled down little by little in this way.

Persian rugs for sale come in many varieties. The Ardebil has distinctive geometric patterns; the Kazak rug has straight lines and jagged edge motifs; the Heriz rug is thick, durable, and more inexpensive than classic Tabriz rugs. Mehraban runners or area rugs are usually decorative, featuring flowers and medallions on dark backgrounds. These rugs are sturdy wool, fine and durable, suitable for high traffic areas. Bakhtiari area rugs and carpets are tinted with vegetable dyes. These are fine carpets similar to Hamadan except with larger wefting. Karadja carpets, also similar to Hamadan, are also sometimes decorated with medallions, but have rougher, denser wool and are therefore usually heavier. These are usually smaller rugs, not large carpets.

Although Western buyers may have a strong association between Persian or Oriental rugs and traditional, ancient production and design, in reality, the demand for these rugs is so great that they are in constant production. Therefore, production standards are contemporary, and designs, motifs, and materials are likely to be modern. Furthermore, always be hesitant to take someone’s word that the rug you are considering is “antique,” as this may very well mean, “not made this year.”

In terms of size, the most commonly found are the Farsh or Qualii which are anything larger than 6x4. The famous Kilim nomad rugs are generally smaller, traditionally used as carpets, but are also suitable as throw or small area rugs. For a really tremendous area rug, about 4,343 square meters in size, have a look at the Grand Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Muscat, perhaps the largest area rug on record.

Almost all Persian and oriental rugs are made of wool, with a cotton foundation. Although silk is a finer material, it is also much more fragile, and for this reason Oriental carpets made of silk are most likely designed to serve as wall tapestries rather than as floor cover. Persian rug weavers are often able to produce patterns from memory, as rug makers are usually born into the trade and work with the rugs and their designs from childhood. However, more elaborate, and usually more traditional, motifs are now entered onto a computer and weavers are thereby able to create perfect antique replicas. The hand woven and hand knotted rugs are, however, still the most prized and the most expensive.

Famous motifs for Persian rugs include the Rosette, Boteh, Herati, Shah Abbasi, Gul, and Mina-Khan, and Gabbeh. The boteh design comes from the Farsi word for flower bud, also including shapes resembling a tear drop or flame; interestingly, this motif is most widely referred to as the paisley pattern because of the Scottish town of Paisley which imitated the pattern they had found on a Kashmir shawl. Gul rugs come from the Farsi word for flower, which is the common pattern of this type of area rug; however, not all Gul patterns are floral. Herati rugs are elaborately woven with intricate patterns; motifs of these types include floral, diamond, and curving, stretching leaves. Mina-Khani rugs also include floral and leaf designs, usually with a unique perspective as though the viewer were looking down upon the foliage. Rosette rugs, appropriately, contain circular patterns surrounding a centered focal point which is commonly a medallion. Shah Abbasi is a common pattern based upon a traditional pattern used for men’s cloaks. The patterns are complex, normally containing intertwining images of plants, flowers, and animals. Gabbeh rugs are traditional tribal rugs made from natural fibers. These gorgeous and special creations depict women’s lives, emotions, and stories, translated into geometric and asymmetrical patterns. These are unique artistic masterpieces and, although made with a low knot count, are of very high quality, and coveted in the Western world. Often, these tribal rugs are sold by discount wool area rugs sellers, and these are not genuine Gabbeh as they are not made by the women of the Zagros area. Many of these fakes being manufactured in China and in India. These may be easy to identify as the rugs are not made from good quality wool, and are not dyed with the natural tints, but rather with chemicals. They also will often have a white fringe which the originals do not have.

Persian rugs are made on a loom. The weft is passed through the lower warp, forming the base. Loosely piled knots of wool are then attached through adjacent warps, forming the designs. This is an incredibly time consuming process. The main function of the loom is to provide tension. Horizontal looms create small area rugs while vertical looms can create rugs up to just about any size. In Iran, the Tabriz loom is the most common. This loom has a fixed upper beam and moveable lower beam, creating tension by adding wedges into slots along the sides. As the rug is woven, the weaver is slowly elevated.

Persian rugs can be large enough to fill a room, small enough to serve as an accent, and long enough to be a hallway runner. They are also durable enough to serve as kitchen rugs and can withstand plenty of foot traffic. If you seek a hand crafted wool rug in a modern, contemporary, or geometric patter, a Persian rug is probably the right choice. The men and women in Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan, as well as many other parts of the world, who create these functional art pieces do so as an expression of their lives, not merely as a profession. These artists have perfected rugs which blend with any modern décor and add a powerful hand-made touch of tradition.