To read a rug.

How it was woven.

Pile rugs, flatweaves, and the bags and covers woven on the same looms.

Bag face

The decorated front panel of a woven bag, shown without the rest of the bag. On most tribal bags the design is on the face, in pile or soumak, while the back is plain weave, so a face may be one half of a khorjin or the front of a single bag.

ALSO BAGFACE · SADDLEBAG FACE · SADDLE BAG FACE · KHORJIN FACE · TACHEH FACE · TOUBREH FACE · OPENED BAG

See also Khorjin (saddlebag), Toubreh, Tacheh

Carpet cushion (made from a vintage rug)

A cushion whose face is cut from an older handwoven rug, kilim or bag face, restored and backed with a separate handwoven cloth. The age given for such a cushion is the age of the rug it came from, not of the cushion.

ALSO RUG CUSHION · KILIM CUSHION · CARPET CUSHION · OVERDYED CARPET CUSHION · MADE FROM VINTAGE RUGS · MADE FORM ANTIQUE AND VINTAGE RUGS

See also Poshti, Toubreh

Chantehچنته

A small bag or pouch for personal things. Dehkhoda's dictionary describes the chanteh as a dervish's bag, often made from a piece of rug sewn into a pouch, edged with leather and hung from the neck.

ALSO CHANTE · CHENTEH · CHANTAH

See also Bag face

Flatweave

Any rug or textile woven without a pile. The pattern comes from the warps and wefts themselves, or from extra yarns floated or wrapped across them. Kilim, soumak, jajim and ziloo are all flatweaves, each with its own structure.

ALSO FLAT-WEAVE · FLAT WEAVE · FLATWOVEN · FLAT-WOVEN RUG · PILELESS RUG

See also Kilim, Soumak, Jajim, Ziloo

Gabbehگبه

A thick, loosely woven pile rug of the Zagros tribes, among them the Qashqai, Lori-speaking groups and Kurds, with long pile, low knot density and several rows of weft between each row of knots. Designs are spare: open fields of colour, simple geometry, now and then a stylised animal. Gabbehs were woven for the household, as sleeping rugs and floor covers, rather than for sale.

ALSO GABBE · GABBA · GAVA · KHERSAK

See also Pile rug (hand-knotted)

Jajimجاجیم

A flatweave in warp-faced plain weave: the warps are packed so closely that they hide the wefts, so the colours run as lengthwise stripes, sometimes enriched with extra pattern wefts floated across the ground. Persian dictionaries describe the jajim as a pileless spread of coloured wool or cotton yarn, thinner than a palas, used as a ground cover and to wrap bedding.

ALSO JAJEEM · DJADJIM · JEJIM · JAJIM FLATWEAVE

See also Flatweave, Palas, Soumak

Khorjin (saddlebag)خورجین

A double bag: two pouches joined by a band so the pair can hang either side of a horse, mule or camel. Dehkhoda defines it as two sacks joined at one side. The two faces are usually the decorated part, in pile, soumak or kilim, while the backs are plainer weave.

ALSO KHURJIN · KHORDJIN · KHURJEEN · KHORJEEN · SADDLEBAG · SADDLE BAG · DOUBLE SADDLEBAG · DOUBLE BAG · HEYBE

See also Bag face, Soumak, Tacheh

Kilimگلیم

A flatweave in weft-faced plain weave, also called tapestry weave: the wefts are packed so tightly that they hide the warps, and each colour of weft is worked back and forth only where the design needs it. Gelim is the Persian word and kilim the Turkish form used in the trade. Most kilims look the same on both faces.

ALSO GELIM · GILIM · KELIM · KILLIM · KILEEM · TAPESTRY WEAVE

See also Slit tapestry (slit weave), Soumak, Flatweave

Mafrashمفرش

A large box-shaped bag for quilts, blankets and other bedding, made of four woven panels sewn to a plain-woven base. It is a transport pack, loaded on animals during migration. The Shahsavan of north-west Persia are best known for them, usually patterned in soumak. Turkmen use the same word for a much smaller bag.

ALSO MAFRACHE · MAFRASCH · MAFTASH · BLANKET BOX · BEDDING BAG

See also Soumak, Khorjin (saddlebag)

Namakdan (salt bag)نمکدان

A woven bag of distinctive shape used by nomads and villagers to keep salt, an essential staple; similar bags held other foods. The face is often in pile or soumak. In Persian, namakdan means any salt container.

ALSO SALT BAG · NAMAKDAN · NAMAKDOON · PERSIAN SALT BAG

See also Sofreh, Toubreh, Khorjin (saddlebag)

Palasپلاس

A Persian word for a plain, coarse flatweave. Dehkhoda's dictionary gives it as a thick woollen cloth, a spread like a jajim, and a coarse gelim. In the rug trade the word is also used for Caucasian flatweaves.

ALSO PALLAS · PALAZ · PALAS KILIM

See also Kilim, Jajim

Pile rug (hand-knotted)قالی

A rug whose surface is a pile of cut yarn. Short lengths of yarn are knotted around pairs of warps between rows of weft, then cut, and the cut ends stand up to form the design. In Persian such a carpet is a qali; a small one is a qalicheh.

ALSO HAND-KNOTTED RUG · KNOTTED-PILE CARPET · PILE CARPET · QALI · GHALI · CARPET · PERSIAN RUG

See also Flatweave, Qalicheh, Qali

Slit tapestry (slit weave)

A kilim structure in which two weft colours meeting along a vertical line each turn back around their own last warp, leaving a small slit between them. Long slits weaken the cloth, so weavers avoid long vertical lines and step their outlines instead, which gives slit kilims their crisp, stepped edges.

ALSO SLIT WEAVE · SLIT-TAPESTRY WEAVE · SLIT KILIM · SLIT-WOVEN

See also Kilim

Sofrehسفره

A cloth spread on the floor to hold food at meals; in everyday Persian the word also covers a tablecloth. Tribal weavers make flatwoven sofrehs as ground cloths for meals and for bread.

ALSO SOFRE · SOFRA · SUFREH · BREAD CLOTH · EATING CLOTH

See also Namakdan (salt bag), Soumak, Kilim

Soumak

A flatweave built by weft wrapping: a pattern weft is wound forward over several warps and back under fewer, row after row, often with a plain ground weft between the rows. The wraps form slanting stitches across the face; where alternate rows slant opposite ways they make a herringbone, called countered soumak.

ALSO SUMAK · SUMAC · SUMAKH · SOUMAKH · SUMAC KILIM · WEFT WRAPPING · WEFT-WRAPPED

See also Kilim, Flatweave, Khorjin (saddlebag)

Tachehتاچه

A sack that makes one side of a pack load: Dehkhoda gives tacheh as a small sack or half-load, one side of a khorjin. In rugs the word names the large grain and flour bags of the Bakhtiari villages of Chahar Mahal, west of Isfahan.

ALSO TACHE · TAACHE · TACHEH FACE · TACHEH KILIM · TACHEH RUNNER · GRAIN BAG · FLOUR BAG

See also Khorjin (saddlebag), Bag face, Soumak

Toubrehتوبره

A Persian word for a sack, first of all the feed bag hung from a horse's or mule's head; Dehkhoda also lists the hunter's bag. In rugs, toubreh is used for medium-sized woven storage bags; the Turkmen name for a similar bag is torba.

ALSO TOBREH · TUBREH · TORBA · TORBEH · NOSE BAG · FEED BAG

See also Namakdan (salt bag), Khorjin (saddlebag), Bag face

Zilooزیلو

A flat-woven cotton floor covering from the Yazd region, above all Meybod and Ardakan. It is woven on a special loom in a compound weave with two sets of warps, so the pattern shows on both faces with the colours reversed. Ziloos have long been laid in mosques and houses, and mosque pieces often carry woven inscriptions and dates.

ALSO ZILU · ZILOU · ZILO · ZILLU · COTTON KILIM

See also Flatweave, Kilim, Meybod pottery

What it is made of.

The foundation, the knot and the fibre. Turn a corner over: the back of a rug shows most of this.

Asymmetric knot (Persian knot)گره فارسی

The asymmetric knot wraps one warp of a pair and passes under the other, so a yarn end rises on each side of one warp; it can open to the left or the right. Western books long called it the Persian or Senneh knot, but both knot types are used throughout Iran, and Senneh (Sanandaj) rugs are mostly tied with the symmetric knot. The Iranian trade calls this technique farsibaf.

ALSO PERSIAN KNOT · SENNEH KNOT · SANNEH KNOT · SENNA KNOT · SEHNA KNOT · ASYMMETRICAL KNOT · FARSIBAF · OPEN LEFT · OPEN RIGHT

See also Symmetric knot (Turkish knot), Jufti knot, Raj

Camel hairپشم شتر

Camel hair (پشم شتر) is the soft tan to brown fibre plucked from camels and used undyed. Iranica records it in cheaper rugs of Chahar Mahal and Baluchistan, for browns in Khorasan and Baluch kilims, in flour sofrehs, and extensively in Shahsavan rugs from Sarab. "Camel" in a title may also name only the colour: some dealers hold that camel-coloured Serab grounds are sheep's wool dyed with walnut husk.

ALSO CAMEL WOOL · CAMELHAIR · CAMEL'S HAIR · CAMEL COLOUR · CAMEL GROUND · CAMEL FIELD

See also Walnut husk, Goat hair

Cottonپنبه

Cotton (پنبه) is the usual foundation fibre of Persian workshop rugs and of many village and some tribal rugs. Iranica notes that undyed cotton is used in the warps of finer carpets because it is less elastic than wool and holds its shape better, and that handspun cotton was still used in cheaper commercial rugs into the 1950s. Ziloos are flatweaves made entirely of cotton.

ALSO COTTON FOUNDATION · COTTON WARP · COTTON WEFTS · PANBEH

See also Foundation, Warp, Wool on cotton

Depressed warps

Warps are depressed when alternate warps lie on a lower level than their neighbours, because one weft of each pair is pulled tighter than the next. On the back one node of each knot is then partly hidden. If neither weft is pulled taut the warps lie level, or flat, and both nodes of every knot show. The degree of depression is one of the structural traits used to group rugs by region.

ALSO DEPRESSED WARP · OFFSET WARPS · WARP DEPRESSION · TWO-LEVEL WARPS · LEVEL WARPS · FLAT WARPS

See also Double-wefted, Single-wefted, Handle

Double-wefted

A double-wefted rug has two weft shoots after each row of knots. When one shoot is pulled tighter than the other, alternate warps are pushed to a lower level (see depressed warps). Iranica contrasts double-wefted Shahsavan rugs from Sarab with single-wefted Hamadan pieces, and notes three shoots in some Bijar and Kerman rugs. As with any weft count, it is read at an end, not from the back.

ALSO DOUBLE WEFT · DOUBLE-WEFT · TWO WEFT SHOOTS · MULTI-WEFTED · TRIPLE-WEFTED

See also Single-wefted, Depressed warps, Weft

Foundation

The foundation is the woven grid of warps and wefts that holds the knots. Descriptions name its fibre separately from the pile: "wool pile on a cotton foundation" means wool knots on cotton warps and, usually, cotton wefts. Workshop weavers prefer cotton warps because cotton is less elastic than wool and holds its shape better; nomads normally use their own wool throughout.

ALSO GROUND WEAVE · WARP AND WEFT · FOUNDATION FIBRE

See also Warp, Weft, Wool on cotton, Wool on wool

Fringeریشه

The fringe is the warp ends left free at the two short ends of a rug, in Persian risheh (ریشه). Usually it is the warps themselves, left loose or knotted, braided or netted, though fringes are sometimes added. A clean white fringe says nothing about age: every rug in the gallery has been professionally washed, and restored where needed, before export.

ALSO RISHEH · WARP ENDS · TASSELS · END FINISH

See also Warp, Kilim end (skirt), Selvedge

Goat hairموی بز

Goat hair (موی بز) is used in Persian weaving mainly in the foundation and edges. Iranica records it mixed with coarse sheep's wool in the warps of tribal rugs woven for home use, in Baluch flatweaves, and in the selvedges of coarser Baluch rugs. It is clipped, washed and combed, then spun alone or with sheep's wool.

ALSO GOAT'S HAIR · GOATS HAIR · GOAT WOOL · GOATS WOOL · GOAT-HAIR

See also Selvedge, Warp

Handle

Handle is how a rug feels and moves in the hand: soft or harsh, supple and folding or stiff and board-like. Textile dictionaries define it as the quality perceived by touching, squeezing or rubbing a fabric. In a rug it comes from the fibre and the build, including weft tension and warp depression. Aged wool has a handle that washing does not create, so it counts as age evidence, but only in person.

ALSO HAND · FEEL · DRAPE · IN THE HAND

See also Depressed warps, Lustre, Handspun wool

Handspun wool

Handspun wool is spun by hand, in Iran most often on a drop spindle, giving a yarn slightly uneven in thickness and twist along its length. Those variations take dye unevenly and add to abrash. Handspun versus machine-spun yarn is one of the signs that survives washing and helps in dating, but it is judged up close and in the hand.

ALSO HAND-SPUN WOOL · HANDSPUN · HAND SPUN · HANDSPUN YARN · HAND-SPUN YARN

See also Machine-spun wool, Abrash, Handle

Jufti knotجفتی

A jufti (joftī, "paired") knot is tied over more than two warps instead of the usual pair. It is a production shortcut: it saves time and yarn but lowers the knot count, which coarsens the drawing. A government conference in Tehran in 1949 named it among the industry's chief faults, judging jufti carpets inferior in both looks and durability.

ALSO JOFTI · JOFTĪ · FALSE KNOT

See also Symmetric knot (Turkish knot), Asymmetric knot (Persian knot), Knot density (KPSI)

Kilim end (skirt)

A kilim end, or skirt, is the band of flatweave at each end of a pile rug, between the knotted area and the fringe. Before tying the first row of knots the weaver passes several shoots of weft to make this protective strip of plain weave, and the far end is usually finished the same way. It may be left plain or woven in stripes and simple patterns.

ALSO KILIM ENDS · SKIRT · END SKIRT · FLATWOVEN END · PLAIN-WEAVE END · GELIM END

See also Fringe, Weft

Knot density (KPSI)

Knot density is the number of knots in a unit of area: knots per square inch (KPSI) in English-language trade, per square decimetre or metre in Europe. It is the knots across multiplied by the rows down. To convert raj, divide by 7 and multiply by 2.54 for knots per inch across; if rows match, KPSI is about raj squared times 0.13, so 40 raj is about 210 KPSI. One KPSI is 1,550 knots per square metre.

ALSO KPSI · KPSI · KNOTS PER SQUARE INCH · KNOTS PER SQUARE METRE · KNOTS PER SQUARE DECIMETRE · KNOT COUNT

See also Raj, Jufti knot

Kork woolکرک

Kork (کرک) is fine, soft, lustrous wool used for the pile of better rugs. In Persian dictionaries the word means the soft down that grows beneath goat hair, combed out and spun for shawls; in the carpet trade it means fine lamb's wool, usually from an early shearing. Trade sources disagree on which part of the animal it comes from: the neck, the underarms or the belly.

ALSO KORK · KURK · KOURK · KURK WOOL · KOURK WOOL

See also Lamb's wool, Lustre, Pile

Lamb's wool

Lamb's wool is the first clip shorn from a young sheep, finer and softer than adult fleece. Iranica records weavers around Maku blending spring-shorn wool with lamb's wool to make yarn for fine carpets. In rug titles it signals a soft, fine wool pile; kork is the trade's name for the finest grade.

ALSO LAMBSWOOL · LAMB WOOL

See also Kork wool, Silk

Lustre

Lustre is the natural sheen of wool. It depends mainly on the fleece: Iranica singles out the lustrous wools of Kerman, Fars and Ardabil, and the fine wool Heriz weavers once bought from the Shahsavan. Lustre is not silk. Kork wool is lustrous, and a rug with a strong sheen may contain no silk at all. A chemical wash can also add sheen.

ALSO LUSTER · SHEEN · LUSTROUS · SHINE

See also Kork wool, Silk, Handle

Machine-spun wool

Machine-spun wool is carded and spun in a mill, so the yarn is even in thickness and twist and takes dye evenly. Machine-spun yarns were reaching Persian weaving by the late 19th century, and in the 20th century the state Iran Carpet Company ran its own factories for washing and combing, carding and spinning wool. It is normal in later production and is not a fault, but it is one of the yarn signs read in dating.

ALSO MACHINE SPUN · MILL-SPUN · MACHINE-CARDED · MACHINE SPUN WOOL

See also Handspun wool

Overcasting

Overcasting is the simplest side finish: yarn wrapped around a single cord of warp yarn along each long edge of a rug. Iranica distinguishes it from a selvedge proper, in which two or more cords or warps are wrapped together, though rug descriptions often use "selvedge" for both. The overcasting yarn may be wool or another fibre.

ALSO OVERCAST · OVERCAST EDGE · OVERCAST SIDES

See also Selvedge

Pileپرز

The pile is the face of a knotted rug: the cut ends of the knotted yarns, standing up from the foundation and forming the design. It is usually wool, sometimes silk, or wool with small silk details, and it is clipped level after weaving. Every rug in the gallery has been professionally washed and sheared before export, so a full, even pile says nothing about age.

ALSO PORZ · NAP · KNOTTED PILE · PILE HEIGHT

See also Kork wool, Silk, Foundation, Lustre

Rajرج

Raj (رج, literally "row") is the Iranian trade measure of fineness: the number of knots in 7 cm, counted across the width of a rug. On a coarse weave, count the warps: each knot sits on a pair, so warps per centimetre divided by two is knots per centimetre, and seven times that is the raj. Some reference works count rows along the length instead; on an evenly woven rug the two figures are close.

ALSO RAJ COUNT · RAJJ

See also Knot density (KPSI), Warp, Jufti knot

Selvedgeشیرازه

The selvedge is the finish along the two long sides of a rug, where the outermost warps are wrapped with yarn into a firm cord; in Persian, shirazeh (شیرازه). Iranica separates a true selvedge, two or more cords or warps wrapped together, from overcasting a single cord. The wrapping may be wool or another fibre: goat hair is favoured on coarser Baluch rugs. The Persian hashiyeh (حاشیه) means the border, not the selvedge.

ALSO SELVAGE · SIDE CORD · SIDE CORDS · SIDE FINISH · SHIRAZEH · KENARAPICH

See also Overcasting, Fringe, Goat hair

Silkابریشم

Silk (ابریشم) appears in Persian rugs as the pile of the finest pieces, the warps of very fine wool rugs, and small highlights in wool pile. Kashan, Nain and Qom have woven rugs entirely of silk. In tribal weaving it is rare and a mark of luxury. A strong sheen alone does not prove silk: fine wool is lustrous too.

ALSO SILK PILE · SILK FOUNDATION · SILK WARP · SILK HIGHLIGHTS · ABRISHAM

See also Lustre, Kork wool, Warp

Single-wefted

A single-wefted rug has one weft shoot after each row of knots. It is a regional trait: Iranica gives it for the Qaragozlu rugs of the Hamadan area, in contrast to double-wefted Sarab rugs, and the Brooklyn Museum's Senneh rug is single-wefted. A photograph of the back cannot settle the count, because a second, inner weft may never show; check it at an end or a raised edge, in the hand.

ALSO SINGLE WEFT · SINGLE-WEFT · ONE WEFT SHOOT · SINGLE WEFTED

See also Weft, Double-wefted, Depressed warps

Symmetric knot (Turkish knot)گره ترکی

The symmetric knot wraps around both warps of a pair, and its two yarn ends rise together between them. Older books call it the Turkish or Ghiordes (Gördes) knot, after the Anatolian town, and the Iranian trade calls the technique torkibaf. The name says nothing about who wove the rug: it is widely used in Iran, including in Senneh rugs and in the camel-ground rugs of Hamadan and Sarab.

ALSO TURKISH KNOT · GHIORDES KNOT · GÖRDES KNOT · GORDES KNOT · SYMMETRICAL KNOT · TORKIBAF

See also Asymmetric knot (Persian knot), Jufti knot, Raj

Warpتار

The warps are the lengthwise threads strung on the loom before weaving begins. They run from one end of the rug to the other, the knots are tied around them, usually in pairs, and their free ends become the fringe. In Persian rugs warps are most often cotton, usually wool in nomadic weaving, and silk in some very fine pieces.

ALSO TAR · CHELLA · WARP THREADS

See also Weft, Foundation, Fringe, Depressed warps

Weftپود

Wefts are the crosswise threads passed over and under the warps from side to side. In a pile rug one or more weft shoots go in after each row of knots and are beaten down to lock the knots in place; warps and wefts together make the foundation. How many shoots follow each row is a regional trait, and it is read at an end or a raised edge, never from the back.

ALSO PUD · WEFT SHOOT · SHOOT · PASS

See also Warp, Single-wefted, Double-wefted, Foundation

Wool on cotton

"Wool on cotton" is one of Dyad's Materiality labels. The first fibre named is the pile, or in a flatweave the face yarn; the second is the foundation. A wool on cotton rug therefore has wool knots on cotton warps and, usually, cotton wefts. It is the standard build of Persian workshop rugs and of many village rugs.

ALSO WOOL-ON-COTTON · WOOL ON COTTON CONSTRUCTION · WOOL PILE ON COTTON FOUNDATION

See also Wool on wool, Foundation, Cotton

Wool on wool

"Wool on wool" is a Dyad Materiality label for a piece that is wool throughout: wool pile, or wool face yarn in a flatweave, on wool warps and wefts. Nomadic weavers normally use wool from their own flocks for every part of a rug, so the label is typical of tribal rugs, kilims and gabbehs. A wool foundation is more elastic than cotton.

ALSO WOOL-ON-WOOL · ALL WOOL · WOOL PILE ON WOOL FOUNDATION

See also Wool on cotton, Foundation

The motif language.

The layouts, motifs and design names used in our listings, with their Persian names.

Afshanافشان

Afshan (Persian 'scattered') is an all-over design of flowers, palmettes and leaves strewn across the field on a network of scrolling stems. It usually has no dominant medallion, though some rugs set a medallion over it.

ALSO AFHSAN · AFSHAN SHAH ABBASI · AFSHOON · SCATTERED DESIGN

See also All-over design (repeat), Shah Abbasi (palmette), Herati (Mahi)

All-over design (repeat)

An all-over design covers the field edge to edge with a pattern instead of building it around a medallion. Most are repeats of a small unit, such as the herati or the boteh, set in rows or offset rows, and many read the same from any side.

ALSO ALL-OVER · ALLOVER · ALL OVER · ALL OVER · REPEAT · REPEAT PATTERN · OVERALL DESIGN

See also Afshan, Herati (Mahi), Boteh, Lattice

Animals and figures

Village and tribal rugs often set small animals, birds and human figures among their main motifs, drawn freely rather than from a cartoon. In gabbehs a stick figure or a few stylised animals may be the only pattern on an open field of colour.

ALSO FIGURES · FIGURES · ANIMALS · ANIMAL GARDEN · WILD SHEEP · CAMEL · HORSES · STAG · DEER · GOATS · STICK FIGURE

See also Lion rug (gabbeh-ye shiri), Pictorial rug, Morghi (birds)

Borderحاشیه

The border (hashiyeh) is the band of patterned stripes framing the field. Persian rugs usually have three or more: a wide main border with narrower minor borders on either side, separated by guards. Hashiyeh means the border; the selvedge, the finished long edge, is shirazeh in Persian.

ALSO HASHIYEH · HASHIEH · HASHIA · MAIN BORDER · MINOR BORDER · BORDER STRIPE

See also Guard stripe, Field, Inscription panel (katibeh, cartouche)

Botehبته

The boteh (Persian 'bush' or 'shrub') is a leaf-like motif with a rounded body and a curved, pointed tip, known in the West through the paisley shawl. It appears singly or as an all-over repeat, often in offset rows. Its origin is debated: it has been read as a cypress bent by the wind, a leaf and a flowering spray.

ALSO BOTE · BOTA · BUTA · BUTAH · BOTEH JEGHEH · BOTEH JEGHE · PAISLEY

See also Cypress (sarv), All-over design (repeat)

Checkered (shatranji)شطرنجی

A checkered design divides the field into a grid of squares in alternating or varied colours, like a chessboard. The Persian word shatranji, from shatranj ('chess'), means chequered and is also an old name for a kind of carpet or spread.

ALSO CHECKERED · CHEQUERED · MICRO CHECKERED · CHECKERBOARD · SHATRANJI · CHECKS

See also Kheshti, Muharramat (stripes), Lowzi (lozenge)

Cypress (sarv)سرو

The cypress (sarv) is drawn as a tall, narrow evergreen, singly or in rows. A silk carpet dated 1662 already shows a directional field of cypresses and flowering plants. In Persian poetry the cypress is an image of a graceful, upright figure, and some scholars see the boteh as a cypress with its top bent by the wind.

ALSO SARV · CYPRESS · CYPRESS · DOUBLE CYPRESS · CYPRESSES

See also Boteh, Kheshti, Tree of life (derakht-e zendegi)

Dated rug

A dated rug has a year woven into it, often beside a signature. Older Persian dates are usually lunar Hijri (AH): multiply by 0.97 and add 622 for the approximate Western year, so 1320 AH is about 1902. Since 1925 Iran's official calendar has been solar Hijri, so add 621. A year in the 2530s comes from the imperial calendar used from 1976 to 1978.

ALSO DATED · DATE · AH · HIJRI · HEGIRA · SOLAR HIJRI · SH

See also Signed rug (signature), Inscription panel (katibeh, cartouche)

Eslimi (arabesque)اسلیمی

Eslimi is the arabesque: a stylised scrolling stem with split, forked leaves, used to tie a design together in the field and in borders. In borders it runs as a continuous scroll or in paired, mirrored sections.

ALSO ESLIMI · ISLIMI · ARABESQUE · ARABESQUES · SHAKH-E ESLIMI

See also Shah Abbasi (palmette), Afshan

Fieldمتن

The field (matn) is the central area of a rug, enclosed by its borders. It carries the main design: a medallion, an all-over repeat, a lattice, a pictorial scene or open colour. Its background colour is called the ground, as in an ivory or a red field.

ALSO MATN · GROUND · FIELD COLOUR

See also Border, Medallion (toranj), All-over design (repeat)

Garden design

A garden design shows a Persian garden as if from above: water channels divide the field into beds, often in the four-part chahar bagh plan meeting at a central pool, while the trees, shrubs and flowers in the beds are drawn in profile. Fish, birds and animals often fill the channels and beds.

ALSO GARDEN · GARDEN CARPET · PERSIAN GARDEN · ANIMAL GARDEN · LATTICE GARDEN · CHAHAR BAGH · CHAR BAGH

See also Kheshti, Lattice, Tree of life (derakht-e zendegi)

Gol Farangگل فرنگ

Gol farang (Persian 'European flower') is a design of naturalistic roses, rose sprays or bouquets drawn in a European manner, either scattered across the field or set in rows. How and when the style entered Persian weaving is debated.

ALSO GOLFARANG · GOLFARANG · GOL-E FARANG · GOL FARANGI · GUL FARANGI · GOL FARANGH · EUROPEAN FLOWER · FOREIGN FLOWER

See also Pictorial rug

Guard stripe

Guards are the narrow bands, often of plain colour, that run between the stripes of a rug's border and usually separate the wide main border from the narrower minor borders on either side.

ALSO GUARD · GUARDS · GUARD BORDER

See also Border

Gul (Turkmen)گل

A gul (Turkmen göl, from Persian gol, 'flower') is the medallion-like motif repeated in rows across the field of Turkmen rugs. Tribes are associated with particular guls, but guls passed between tribes and changed over time, so attribution now rests on structure, materials and colour more than on the gul.

ALSO GUL · GOL · GÖL · GOOL · GOOL · TURKMEN GUL · TORKAMAN GUL

See also Mari Gol

Harshang (crab)خرچنگ

Harshang, from the Persian kharchang ('crab'), is a pattern of interlacing scrolling stems with large stylised palmettes, the 'crabs', where the stems meet and leaves, the 'claws', at their ends. Iranica describes it as a border pattern.

ALSO HARSHANG · KHARCHANG · CRAB · CRAB · CRAB BORDER

See also Shah Abbasi (palmette), Border

Herati (Mahi)هراتی

The herati is a small repeating unit: a rosette framed in a diamond, with palmettes at its corners and four curved, serrated leaves around it. In Persian it is also called mahi ('fish') or mahi dar ham, because the leaves look like small fish. It is woven across Persia, as an all-over field or behind a medallion.

ALSO MAHI · MAAHI · MAHI DAR HAM · MAHI-DAR-HAM · FISH PATTERN · FISH DESIGN · HERATI DESIGN · MAHI TORANJ

See also Mahi Dorosht, Rosette, Serrated leaf (sickle leaf), All-over design (repeat)

Inscription panel (katibeh, cartouche)کتیبه

A cartouche is an elongated compartment with pointed or lobed ends, used as a repeating unit in borders and to frame inscriptions. An inscription panel (katibeh) holds woven words: a signature, a date, a dedication or lines of poetry. The Ardabil carpet's cartouche holds a verse of Hafez, a name and a date.

ALSO CARTOUCHE · CARTOUCHES · KATIBEH · KITABEH · INSCRIPTION · INSCRIPTION PANEL · INSCRIBED

See also Signed rug (signature), Dated rug, Border

Joshaghan designجوشقان

The Joshaghan design, named after the carpet district of Jowshaqan north-west of Isfahan, is a geometric lattice of diamond-shaped compartments, each holding a stylised flowering shrub or spray, with or without a medallion. Iranica describes the district's designs since the late 19th century as geometric, sometimes without a medallion, and conservative.

ALSO JOSHAGHAN · JOSHAGAN · JOSHEGAN · JOWSHAQAN · JOSHEQAN · JOSHAGHAN LATTICE

See also Lattice, Kheshti

Kheshtiخشتی

Kheshti (Persian 'brick-like', from khesht, a mud brick) is a design that divides the field into a grid of square or rectangular compartments, each holding its own motif. Iranica names the brick-patterned rugs of Chahar Mahal-e Bakhtiari as the classic example; the layout is woven in other regions too.

ALSO KHESTI · BRICK DESIGN · PANEL DESIGN · COMPARTMENT DESIGN · GARDEN PANEL · TILE DESIGN

See also Lattice, Cypress (sarv)

Lachak (corner pieces)لچک

Lachak are the corner pieces of a field: quarter-medallions or triangular spandrels in each of the four corners, usually echoing the central medallion. The Persian word also means a small triangular headscarf. Combined with a central medallion, they form the lachak toranj layout.

ALSO LACHAK · CORNERS · CORNER PIECES · SPANDRELS · QUARTER MEDALLIONS · CORNERPIECES

See also Lachak Toranj, Medallion (toranj)

Lachak Toranjلچک ترنج

Lachak toranj is the medallion-and-corner layout: a medallion at the centre of the field and a quarter-medallion in each corner. It is among the most common Persian formats, from the curving floral versions of town workshops to the angular medallion-and-corner carpets associated with Heriz.

ALSO LACHAK-TORANJ · LECHEK TORANJ · LECHEK-TORANJ · LACHAK TORANH · MEDALLION AND CORNER · MEDALLION-AND-CORNER

See also Medallion (toranj), Lachak (corner pieces), Multiple medallion (double, triple, five toranj)

Lattice

A lattice design divides the field with an all-over grid of lines or stems, often diamond-shaped, with a motif in each compartment. Two or more grids can be laid one over another so that they cross at regular intervals.

ALSO TRELLIS · DIAMOND LATTICE · GARDEN LATTICE · LATTICE PANELS

See also Kheshti, All-over design (repeat)

Lion rug (gabbeh-ye shiri)گبه شیری

A lion rug (gabbeh-ye shiri) has a lion as its main motif. Most surviving examples were woven by Qashqai and Bakhtiari weavers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many weavers, usually women, worked from imagination, which is why lions appear in red, green or black, often with human-looking faces. The lion has long been a Persian emblem of royalty and power.

ALSO LION · LION GABBEH · LIONS · GABBA-YE SHIRI · SHIRI

See also Animals and figures, Pictorial rug

Lowzi (lozenge)لوزی

Lowzi is Persian for a lozenge, a diamond shape with four equal sides. A lowzi design is built on lozenges, used as stacked medallions, as an all-over repeat or as the cells of a lattice.

ALSO LOWZI · LOZENGE · LOZENGES · DIAMOND · DIAMONDS · RHOMBUS

See also Lattice, Medallion (toranj), Checkered (shatranji)

Mahi Doroshtماهی درشت

Mahi dorosht (Persian 'large fish') is the herati drawn at a large scale, so that fewer and bigger repeats fill the field. Its counterpart is rizeh mahi ('small fish'), the herati drawn very small, a named design of Birjand rugs.

ALSO LARGE HERATI · LARGE-SCALE MAHI

See also Herati (Mahi)

Mari Gol

Mari Gol is the Tekke gul, the principal gul of Tekke Turkmen rugs, known in retail as the 'elephant's foot' and sold under the trade name 'Bokhara'. Bukhara is a trade misnomer for Turkmen rugs, and many modern 'Bokhara' rugs woven in other countries copy Turkmen patterns.

ALSO MARI GOOL · TEKKE GUL · ELEPHANT'S FOOT · ELEPHANT FOOT · ELEPHANT FEET · BOKHARA · BUKHARA

See also Gul (Turkmen)

Medallion (toranj)ترنج

A medallion (toranj) is a large ornament at the centre of the field, most often round, oval, lozenge-shaped or shield-shaped, with lobed or stepped edges. Toranj is also the Persian name of the citron. A design built around one is a medallion design; with quarter-medallions in the corners as well, it becomes lachak toranj.

ALSO TORANJ · TORONJ · TORANH · MEDALLION · OVAL TORANJ · SINGLE TORANJ · NAQSH-E TORANJ

See also Lachak (corner pieces), Lachak Toranj, Multiple medallion (double, triple, five toranj)

Mehrab (prayer design)محراب

A mehrab design places an arched niche at one end of the field, after the mihrab, the niche in a mosque wall that shows the direction of Mecca. The design is directional: it reads from one end. Rugs in this format are called prayer rugs, and in use the arch is laid toward Mecca.

ALSO MEHRAB · MIHRAB · PRAYER · PRAYER MAT · PRAYER MATT · NICHE DESIGN

See also Tree of life (derakht-e zendegi), Field

Morghi (birds)مرغی

Morghi (from morgh, 'bird') is a design or motif of birds. A Persian field study of tribal rugs from South Khorasan lists it among their common motifs, beside the peacock (tavusi), and birds appear widely in Persian carpets, from pairs in a flowering tree to small birds scattered among the motifs of a tribal field.

ALSO MORQI · MORGHI · MORQ · MORGH · BIRDS · BIRD DESIGN · BIRD-AND-TREE · PEACOCK · PEACOCK · TAVUSI

See also Tree of life (derakht-e zendegi), Animals and figures

Muharramat (stripes)محرمات

Muharramat is a striped design: the field is divided into parallel bands, usually running the length of the rug, each filled with its own colour or small repeating motif. In Persian the word also means a multicoloured striped cloth.

ALSO MUHARRAMAT · MOHARRAMAT · MUHRAMMAT · MUHARAMMAT · MUHRAMAT · STRIPES · STRIPED DESIGN

See also Checkered (shatranji)

Multiple medallion (double, triple, five toranj)

A multiple-medallion design fills the field with two or more medallions, usually set in a row down the length of the rug, either separate or linked. Titles count them, as in double, triple or five toranj.

ALSO DOUBLE TORANJ · TRIPLE TORANJ · THREE TORANJ · FOUR TORANJ · FIVE TORANJ · FIVE MEDALLION · SEVEN MEDALLION · TRIPLE MEDALLION · MULTIPLE MEDALLIONS

See also Medallion (toranj), Lachak Toranj

Pictorial rug

A pictorial rug shows a picture rather than a pattern: a scene, a portrait, buildings or figures from poetry and history. In 19th-century Persia favourite subjects were scenes from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Nezami's Khamseh and historic Persian figures, and from about the 1870s European subjects copied from prints and postcards.

ALSO PICTORIAL · PICTORIAL · FIGURAL · SCENE · HOOSHANG SHAHI · HOOSHANG SHAH · BAHRAM GUR · PERSEPOLIS

See also Shekargah (hunting design), Lion rug (gabbeh-ye shiri), Animals and figures

Rosette

A rosette is a round flower seen from directly above, its petals radiating from the centre. It is a common small motif in both fields and borders, and the flower at the heart of each herati unit.

See also Herati (Mahi), Shah Abbasi (palmette)

Serrated leaf (sickle leaf)

A sickle leaf is a long, curved leaf with a serrated inner edge. Four of them surround the rosette and its diamond in each herati unit, and their resemblance to small fish gave the herati its Persian name, mahi.

ALSO SERRATED LEAF · SICKLE LEAF · LANCET LEAF · SERRATED LEAVES

See also Herati (Mahi)

Shah Abbasi (palmette)شاه عباسی

Shah Abbasi ('of Shah Abbas') describes designs built from palmettes, blossoms and cloud bands of the kind associated with Safavid carpets. The palmette itself is a fan-shaped flower, somewhat like a lotus seen in section. Today the style is closely tied to town workshops such as Isfahan, Nain, Kerman and Tabriz.

ALSO SHAH ABBASI · SHAH ABBAS · PALMETTE · PALMETTES · SHAH ABBASI PALMETTE · GOL-E ESLIMI

See also Eslimi (arabesque), Afshan, Rosette

Shekargah (hunting design)شکارگاه

Shekargah (Persian 'hunting ground') is a design of mounted hunters pursuing animals through a landscape of trees and flowering plants. It goes back to Safavid carpets such as the Milan hunting carpet in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, one of the few Safavid carpets with a woven date, read as either 1522 or 1542.

ALSO SHEKARGAH · SHIKARGAH · HUNTING DESIGN · HUNTING CARPET · HUNTING SCENE · HUNT

See also Pictorial rug, Animals and figures

Signed rug (signature)امضا

A signed rug carries a woven name, often in a small panel at one end of the field or in the border. The name is most often that of the patron or the workshop owner or master (ostad), occasionally the designer, rather than the person who tied the knots. Because it is knotted in, a woven signature shows on both faces.

ALSO SIGNED · SIGNED · SIGNATURE · ARMENIAN-SIGNED · WORKSHOP SIGNATURE · MASTER'S MARK · EMZA

See also Inscription panel (katibeh, cartouche), Dated rug

Tree of life (derakht-e zendegi)درخت زندگی

Derakht-e zendegi ('tree of life') is the name given to designs dominated by a single large tree, or a pair, usually growing from the foot of the field with flowering branches and often with birds or animals among them. The design reads from one end.

ALSO TREE OF LIFE · DERAKHT-E ZENDEGI · DOUBLE TREE OF LIFE · TREE DESIGN · DERAKHTI · BIRD-AND-TREE

See also Cypress (sarv), Mehrab (prayer design), Morghi (birds)

Vase design (goldani)گلدانی

A vase design (goldani) uses vases of flowers as its main motif: one large vase at the foot of a directional field, or vases repeated across the field or set in a lattice. 'Vase carpet' means something else: a group of Safavid carpets, generally attributed to Kerman, named after the vases that appear in many, though not all, of them.

ALSO VASE · VASES · FLOWER VASE · GOLDANI · VASE CARPET

See also Lattice, Tree of life (derakht-e zendegi), Mehrab (prayer design)

Ziegler (Sultanabad)

Ziegler names carpets in the style made for Ziegler & Co., the Manchester-based firm that organised village weaving around Sultanabad (now Arak) from around 1880, supplying dyed wool and cartoons and adapting palettes, sizes and designs to Western taste. The firm's carpets carry no marks, so the name usually describes a style rather than a proven maker.

ALSO ZIEGLER · ZIEGLER MAHAL · MAHAL ZIEGLER · SULTANABAD · SOLTANABAD · SOLTAN ABAD · SULTANABAD ZIEGLER

Where the colour comes from.

Natural and synthetic dyes, and what the colour of a rug can and cannot tell you.

Abrashابرش

Abrash (ابرش) is a change of shade in horizontal bands across the width of a rug, where the weaver moved on to wool from a different dye or wool lot. Read it on the whole rug: a shift at the same height on both long borders is abrash, while a smooth diagonal gradient is lighting. It is a sign of hand-dyed, small-batch wool, not a fault. The word means dappled, as of a horse.

ALSO ABRASHED · ABRASH COLOURING · ABRASH COLOURS · COLOUR BANDING

See also Handspun wool, Natural dye, Chrome dye

Aniline dye

Aniline dyes are the first synthetic dyes, developed in Europe from the 1850s from coal-tar chemistry; the rug trade uses the word for early synthetics in general. They were noted in Persian carpets by the 1870s. Many were fugitive: some faded in light, others ran when washed, so a sun-faded front over a brighter back is a classic sign. The Persian government tried to ban their import, and to confiscate rugs made with them, without success.

ALSO ANILINE · EARLY SYNTHETIC DYES · COAL-TAR DYES · FUCHSINE · ANILINE FUCHSIA

See also Chrome dye, Natural dye, Abrash

Chrome dye

Chrome dyes are synthetic dyes fixed with a chromium compound, potassium dichromate. In the 20th century they replaced the early anilines in commercial rug dyeing: they are cheaper than natural dyes, fast to light and washing, and easy to match from batch to batch, so chrome-dyed fields tend to be uniform. By 1949 an Iranian government conference listed aniline and chrome dyes among the industry's problems.

ALSO CHROME · CHROME-DYED · SYNTHETIC DYE · SYNTHETIC DYES · MODERN SYNTHETIC DYES · CHROME YELLOW · CHROME RED

See also Aniline dye, Abrash, Natural dye

Cochineal and kermesقرمزدانه

Cochineal is a red dye made from the dried bodies of female scale insects. True cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) is American: the English were shipping it to Baku by the late 16th century and into Persia in the early 17th. Older local insect reds, kermes and Armenian red (Porphyrophora hamelii), were produced in north-west Iran and Armenia. The sources often confuse the three.

ALSO COCHINEAL · KERMES · ARMENIAN RED · INSECT RED · INSECT REDS · QERMEZ · DACTYLOPIUS COCCUS · PORPHYROPHORA HAMELII

See also Lac, Madder, Aniline dye

Corrosion

Corrosion is pile worn lower in certain dyed colours than in those around it: most often dark browns and blacks fixed with iron, and in some older rugs greens made with copper salts. The metal weakens the wool, so over decades that pile wears down. Undyed natural brown or camel wool never corrodes. Shearing before export reduces the visible trough.

ALSO OXIDATION · OXIDISED · OXIDIZED · IRON CORROSION · CORRODED BROWNS · ETCHED PILE

See also Mordant, Oak gall, Walnut husk

Firuzehفیروزه

Firuzeh (فیروزه) is Persian for turquoise, the stone, and for its colour: a light sky blue with a touch of green. In rug titles it names the colour of a ground or of details. A flat, even turquoise with no variation in shade is usually a synthetic dye.

ALSO FIROUZEH · FIROOZEH · TURQUOISE · TURQUOISE BLUE

See also Chrome dye, Nili, Indigo

Hennaحنا

Henna (حنا) is a russet-orange dye from the powdered leaves of Lawsonia inermis, best known in Iran as a cosmetic for hair and hands. For rug wool, Iranica records it combined with indigo to give a luminous black.

ALSO HINA · LAWSONIA INERMIS · HENNA ORANGE

See also Indigo, Oak gall

Indigoنیل

Indigo (نیل, nil) is the blue dye from the fermented leaves of indigo plants, chiefly Indigofera tinctoria. Dipping again gives a deeper blue, and indigo under a yellow gives green. Most indigo for Persian rugs was imported from India. Iranica associates a very dark, double-dyed blue with Bijar and Karadagh and a medium blue with Heriz. Synthetic indigo, first made in Germany in 1880, soon largely replaced it.

ALSO NIL · INDIGO BLUE · INDIGOFERA · INDIGOFERA TINCTORIA · INDIGO-DYED

See also Nili, Isparak, Overdyed green, Natural dye

Isparakاسپرک

Isparak (اسپرک) is a principal yellow dye of Persian rugs, from the flowers of a yellow larkspur. Dye masters in Isfahan province identify it as Delphinium semibarbatum and use it as their main source of strong yellow; wool dyed with indigo and then with isparak turns green. Older sources, including Iranica and Edwards, call isparak weld (Reseda luteola), a different plant.

ALSO ESPARAK · ISPARUK · ISPAREK · YELLOW LARKSPUR · LARKSPUR · DELPHINIUM SEMIBARBATUM

See also Weld, Pomegranate rind, Overdyed green, Saffron

Lacلاک

Lac (لاک) is a red dye from female lac insects (Kerria, formerly Coccus lacca) of India. Iran imported it from India by the early 17th century, and dye analysis finds it as the red of classical Safavid carpets: the V&A's report on a 16th-century fragment gives red as lac and orange as madder.

ALSO LAC DYE · LAC RED · LAC-TINGED · KERRIA · COCCUS LACCA · STICK LAC

See also Cochineal and kermes, Madder

Madderروناس

Madder (روناس, runas) is the red dye from the root of Rubia tinctorum, historically the commonest red in Persian carpets. One root gives a wide range of reds depending on the mordant, the wool, the age of the plant and additions such as dried yogurt or sour grape juice. Iran grew and exported madder for centuries; by the mid 20th century synthetic reds had largely replaced it in commercial production.

ALSO RUNAS · RONAS · ROONAS · MADDER RED · RUBIA TINCTORUM

See also Mordant, Natural dye, Lac, Cochineal and kermes

Mordant

A mordant is a metal salt that binds a dye to the fibre and fixes the colour. Persian dyers used mainly alum (zāj); iron salts darken colours and are used for dyed browns and blacks. The same dye gives different shades with different mordants, and tannin-rich additions darken them further. Iron weakens wool over time, which is why iron-mordanted browns corrode.

ALSO MORDANTED · ALUM · ZAJ · IRON MORDANT · IRON-MORDANTED · IRON-MORDANT · FERROUS SULPHATE · GREEN VITRIOL

See also Corrosion, Oak gall, Madder, Natural dye

Natural dye

A natural dye is colour taken from plants, insects or minerals rather than made synthetically. "Vegetable dye" is the usual trade term, though some natural reds come from insects. Persian dyers fixed them with mordants, chiefly alum. Iranica reports vegetable dyes in common use in Iran until the 1940s; synthetic dyes appeared in Persian carpets from the 1870s and later took over commercial production.

ALSO VEGETABLE DYE · VEGETABLE DYES · VEGETAL DYE · VEG DYE · VEGETABLE-DYED · NATURAL-DYED · ALL-NATURAL DYES

See also Mordant, Madder, Indigo, Aniline dye, Chrome dye, Abrash

Niliنیلی

Nili (نیلی) is Persian for indigo-coloured: a deep blue leaning towards violet. Rug titles use it for a piece whose ground or dominant colour is dark indigo blue. It names the colour, not the dye; whether the blue is natural indigo needs separate evidence.

ALSO INDIGO-COLOURED · INDIGO GROUND

See also Indigo, Firuzeh

Oak gallمازو

Oak galls (مازو, mazu) are hard growths on oak buds and leaves caused by gall wasps. They are very rich in tannin, and tannin with iron gives black, the chemistry of iron-gall ink. Iranica records oak galls as a source of black for rug wool in parts of Iran. Blacks and browns made with tannin and iron weaken wool, and they are the colours that corrode.

ALSO GALLNUT · GALL NUT · MAZU · TANNIN BLACK · IRON BLACK

See also Mordant, Corrosion, Walnut husk

Overdyed green

Natural greens in Persian rugs are usually compound colours: wool dyed blue with indigo and then dyed again in a yellow such as isparak. Iranica also records green from willow leaves mixed with indigo. Because the yellow can fade faster than the blue, old greens often drift towards blue.

ALSO OVERDYED · OVER-DYED · OVER-DYED GREENS · COMPOUND GREEN · GREEN DYE

See also Indigo, Isparak, Weld

Pomegranate rindپوست انار

Pomegranate rind (پوست انار), the dried peel of Punica granatum, is a yellow dye source in Iran. Isfahan dye masters today use it as a secondary dye with isparak, to shade yellows towards darker yellows, oranges and browns. "Pomegranate red" in a rug description is a colour name only: the dye from the rind is not red.

ALSO POMEGRANATE · POMEGRANATE PEEL · PUNICA GRANATUM · POMEGRANATE RED

See also Isparak, Natural dye

Saffronزعفران

In rug descriptions saffron is a colour name: a warm golden yellow to yellow-orange. As a dye it is doubtful. Saffron (Crocus sativus) is named as a dyestuff in early Persian texts, and Iranica lists it among historical yellows, but notes that it was very costly and that it is not clear it continued to be used as a dye.

ALSO SAFFRON YELLOW · SAFFRON ORANGE · SAFFRON GOLD · CROCUS SATIVUS

See also Isparak, Natural dye

Walnut huskپوست گردو

Walnut husk (پوست گردو) is the green outer hull of the walnut, Juglans regia. Iranica lists it, with oak bark, as the Persian source of browns, beiges and tans; Serab weavers are said to have dyed Shahsavan wool with it for their camel tones. Dark browns fixed with an iron mordant are the colours that corrode with age.

ALSO WALNUT · WALNUT HULL · WALNUT HULLS · WALNUT SHELL · WALNUT BROWN · WALNUT BROWNS · JUGLANS REGIA

See also Corrosion, Mordant, Camel hair, Oak gall

Weld

Weld is the yellow dye plant Reseda luteola. Dye analysis of the "Salting" group of carpets proposed weld for their yellows, and the V&A records a luteolin yellow in a 16th-century Persian carpet fragment. Iranica and Edwards equate weld with Persian isparak, but present-day Isfahan dye masters name isparak as a larkspur and say they do not use weld.

ALSO RESEDA LUTEOLA · DYER'S ROCKET · WELD YELLOW · WELD-BASED GREENS · WELD-INDIGO GREENS · LUTEOLIN

See also Isparak, Overdyed green

Towns, villages and tribes.

Persian rugs are named for the place they were woven or the people who wove them. Grouped by region.

How we date and describe.

How the age and condition words in our listings are used on this site.

Antique

On this site, Antique means woven in 1940 or earlier. Dealers use the word loosely, often for anything 80 to 100 years old, so we use a fixed year to make the label mean the same thing on every listing.

ALSO ANTIQUE PERSIAN RUG

See also Vintage, First, second, third and fourth quarter, Since 2000

Contemporary

The trade uses Contemporary in two ways: for recent weaving, and for a modern look. On this site it is a style, for open, minimal or freely drawn designs, whatever their age. A piece's age is given separately, in its period.

ALSO CONTEMPORARY PERSIAN RUG · MODERN

See also Since 2000

First, second, third and fourth quarter

Most rugs carry no date, so we give age as a range. The first quarter of the 20th century is 1900 to 1925, the second 1925 to 1950, the third 1950 to 1975 and the fourth 1975 to 2000. Where the evidence allows a closer range, such as c. 1960s to 70s, the listing says so.

See also Antique, Vintage, Dated rug

Full pile

Pile that is still at or close to its original height across the rug, with no worn patches. It is a statement about condition, not age: an old rug that was little used can have full pile.

ALSO EVEN PILE · GOOD PILE

See also Pile

Sheared

Trimming a rug's pile level after washing, so the surface reads evenly. Shearing is part of finishing every pile rug, and it is done again before export. It also softens the low patches that corroded dark wool leaves, which makes them harder to see.

ALSO CLIPPED · SHEARING

See also Washed, Corrosion, Pile

Since 2000

The youngest age band on this site, for pieces woven in 2000 or later. New Weave in a title means recent production, including pieces we commission from weavers today.

ALSO NEW WEAVE · NEW

See also Contemporary

Vintage

On this site, a piece woven between 1941 and 1999. Most of our vintage pieces date from the middle and second half of the 20th century, and the listing gives the closer range where we can tell it.

See also Antique, First, second, third and fourth quarter

Washed

A full wash in water that removes grit, old soiling and excess dye from the pile and foundation. Every piece we sell is professionally washed before it leaves Iran, so a bright fringe or fresh colour says nothing about a rug's age.

ALSO PROFESSIONAL WASH · EXPORT WASH

See also Sheared

The Persian sizes.

The traditional names for rug sizes, and the size bands we browse by.

Dozarدو ذرعی

Two zars: a rug about 2 to 2.2 m long and 1.3 to 1.4 m wide, often given as 140 by 220 cm or 4 ft 6 in by 6 ft 6 in. In Iran the same size is also called sajjadeh-i, prayer-rug size.

ALSO DO ZAR · DO ZARR · DOZARI · DO-ZAR · TWO ZAR · SAJJADEH SIZE

See also Zar, Zar-o-nim, Qalicheh

Kellegiکلگی

The long carpet laid at the head of a room in the traditional Persian arrangement, across the end of the central mian farsh and its two kenareh runners. It is narrower than a room carpet and long for its width: Britannica gives an average of about 3.7 by 1.8 m, and Persian sources give 1.5 by 3 m up to 2 by 3.7 m or longer.

ALSO KELLEH · KELLEY · KELEI · KALLEH · KALEGHI · LONG CARPET · GALLERY CARPET · HEAD CARPET

See also Kenareh, Qali, Runner

Kenarehکناره

Persian for a runner, from kenar, side: in the traditional arrangement two kenarehs lie along either side of the central carpet. Britannica gives about 5.5 by 1 m; Persian trade sources give widths of roughly 0.7 to 1.1 m and lengths of 3 to 10 m, sometimes 15 m or more.

ALSO KENARE · KENARA · KANAREH · KANARA · RUNNER

See also Runner, Kellegi

Pardehپرده

Persian for curtain. As a rug size, pardeh-i names a rug of about 150 by 250 cm; one Persian source keeps the name for finely woven rugs of that size, and another stretches it to about 170 by 280 cm.

ALSO PARDE · PARDEH-I · PARDEI · CURTAIN SIZE

See also Qalicheh, Qali

Poshtiپشتی

From posht, back: a firm cushion set against the wall to lean on, and, after the small rugs woven to cover it, a rug size of under one square metre, most often about 60 by 90 cm. A poshti rug may be a cushion face or simply a small rug of that size.

ALSO PUSHTI · PERSIAN POSHTI · BOLSTER · BACK CUSHION

See also Zarcharak, Carpet cushion (made from a vintage rug)

Qaliقالی

Persian for a knotted-pile carpet, and in the size vocabulary a carpet big enough for a room, conventionally 6 square metres or more. Persian trade lists give common sizes of 2 by 3 m, 2.5 by 3.5 m, 3 by 4 m and up to 4 by 6 m and larger.

ALSO GHALI · HALI · QALEE · GALI · ROOM-SIZE CARPET

See also Qalicheh, Pile rug (hand-knotted), Kellegi

Qalichehقالیچه

Literally a small qali: a rug, as against a room-size carpet. Persian sources draw the line by area, some at under 4 square metres and some at 6, and give common qalicheh sizes of about 140 by 220 cm and 150 by 250 cm.

ALSO QALICHE · GHALICHEH · GHALICHE · KALICHEH · GALICHE

See also Qali, Dozar, Pardeh

Runner

A long, narrow rug for halls and stairs, usually under about 1.2 m wide and more than twice as long as it is wide. Kenareh is the Persian word; in Persian practice long, narrow pieces were also woven to flank a central carpet.

ALSO HALL RUNNER · STAIR RUNNER · KENAREH

See also Kenareh

Zarذرع

The traditional Persian unit of length used for carpets, divided into 16 gereh. Its value varied by region from about 100 to 112 cm: Dehkhoda gives 104 cm for the ordinary zar and 112 cm for the shah's zar used in Tabriz. The Persian size names count in zars.

ALSO ZAR' · ZARʿ · DHAR' · ZAAR · ZARR · PERSIAN CUBIT

See also Zarcharak, Zar-o-nim, Dozar

Zar-o-nimذرع و نیم

A zar and a half: a rug about 1.5 to 1.6 m long and 1 to 1.1 m wide, roughly 100 by 150 cm. Sources give slightly different figures, since the zar itself varied.

ALSO ZARONIM · ZARR O NIM · ZAR O NIM · ZAR AND A HALF

See also Zar, Zarcharak, Dozar

Zarcharakذرع و چارک

A zar and a quarter: a small rug about 1.3 m long, conventionally about 80 by 130 cm. Charak means a quarter, here a quarter of a zar.

ALSO ZAR CHARAK · ZARR CHARAK · ZAR-O-CHARAK · ZAR AND A QUARTER

See also Zar, Zar-o-nim, Poshti

Made by hand, off the loom.

The other Persian crafts in the collection.

Ghalamzani (engraved metalwork)قلمزنی

Engraving: cutting designs into the surface of metal, usually copper, brass or silver, with hand tools. The name comes from qalam, pen, here the engraver's chisel, and Dehkhoda's dictionary notes that the qalamzani of Isfahan is famous.

ALSO QALAMZANI · GHALAM-ZANI · GHALAMZANI · ENGRAVED COPPER · ENGRAVED BRASS · ENGRAVED

See also Qalamkar (block print), Khatam (marquetry)

Kalporgan potteryکلپورگان

Hand-built, unglazed earthenware from Kalporgan, a village near Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan. Women shape the pots by hand without a wheel, using local clay and simple tools, and paint them with geometric motifs in a dark mineral pigment. The skill is passed down from generation to generation.

ALSO KALPOURGAN · KALPURGAN · KALPOREGAN · KALPOUREGAN · KALPORAGAN

See also Meybod pottery

Khatam (marquetry)خاتم

Persian marquetry: thin rods of coloured wood, bone and metal are bundled and glued so that their ends form a star pattern, then sliced into thin slabs that are laid side by side to cover boxes, frames and furniture. The basic unit is a small star set in a hexagon. In rug listings, khatam names a field drawn after this mosaic.

ALSO KHATAM-KARI · KHATAMKARI · KHATAM KARI · KHATAM-BANDI · PERSIAN MARQUETRY · KHATAM DESIGN

See also Ghalamzani (engraved metalwork)

Meybod pottery

Earthenware from Meybod, near Yazd, home to a long-established community of potters with its own quarter. Local potters traditionally make their own pigments and glazes.

ALSO MAYBOD · MEYBODI · YAZD POTTERY · YAZDI POTTERY · YAZDI VASE · YAZDI

See also Ziloo

Nishapur ceramics

Earthenware made at Nishapur in Khorasan in the 9th and 10th centuries, one of the main centres of early Islamic pottery. Its best-known wares are decorated under a clear glaze, among them white-slipped bowls with black calligraphy painted in slip and buff-ground wares painted in green, yellow and purplish black.

ALSO NISHAPUR · NEYSHABUR · NISHAPURI · NISHABUR · NAZHOO

Qalamkar (block print)قلمکار

Printed cotton cloth, made today mainly in Isfahan. Qalamkar means pen work: Dehkhoda describes it as cloth with designs drawn on it with a pen. The Isfahan craft combines stamping with carved wooden blocks and painting by hand, traditionally in four colours: black, red, yellow and blue.

ALSO GHALAMKAR · KALAMKAR · QALAMKARI · KALAMKARI · BLOCK PRINT · PERSIAN BLOCK PRINT · BLOCK PRINTING

See also Ghalamzani (engraved metalwork)

All terms, A to Z.