Fine Lavar Kerman Khatam Persian Rug, Mid 20th Century
ABOUT THIS PIECE
A fine Lavar Kerman Persian rug from south-east Persia, hand-knotted in kork wool on cotton between 1940 and 1960, in the khatam design.
The whole field is worked in khatam, the tessellating star-and-cross mosaic that Persian marquetry is named for, in miniature: thousands of eight-pointed rosettes in indigo, sky blue, olive, ivory and camel, each one a few knots across, laid edge to edge without a break. A slender saffron medallion and its pendants sit at the centre, and layered borders in camel and gold frame the whole. It is a design that only works at this fineness, and Lavar was where it was woven best.
The wool is kork, the soft undercoat that grows beneath the outer fleece, taken from the neck and underbelly where it is finest. It is a fraction of what a sheep yields and it has to be separated by hand, which is why it was reserved for work like this, and it is what gives the surface its sheen and the rug its soft, cloth-like fall. It is knotted on a cotton foundation, and the pile is full and even across the whole rug.
The palette is the quiet one Kerman is known for: indigo and sky blue against camel, with olive, ivory and a saffron that carries the drawing. The blues drift gently from panel to panel, and nothing in the rug is loud.
At 372 by 286cm it is a full room size, and at this scale the mosaic reads as a single shimmering field from across a room and resolves into thousands of separate flowers up close. View it in our Richmond gallery, or explore more vintage Persian rugs.
SPECIFICATIONS
How it sits in your room.
372 × 286 CM (12'2" × 9'5"), DRAWN TO SCALE WITH TYPICAL AUSTRALIAN FURNITURE SIZES.
A 4-seater sofa along the long side with its front legs on the rug and 56 cm of rug past each arm, a coffee table on the rug, and two armchairs facing it.
A 240 × 100 cm table with 93 cm of rug beyond its sides and 66 cm past its ends, so the chairs stay on the rug when they are pulled out.
Under the lower part of a king bed with 95 cm of rug showing on each side, so your feet land on it either side of the bed.
Measure the room, or just the area the rug should cover, and we will draw this rug in it to scale.
