Category — Oriental Carpets
The Persian Rug - Art Or Craft?
“Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.”
Tied by hand, one knot at a time, a Persian rug can take months or even years to create. Whether knotted from a precise design plate or 'cartoon' in a city workshop or inspired by the imagination of its tribal weaver, the Persian or Oriental rug is an object of skill and beauty… but is it truly art?
The expertise and elegance involved in the creation of a handmade carpet is a team process, the wool is sheared and spun before the dying process (often using natural plant and vegetable extracts), in a city setting the design is then drawn by hand, a painstaking process where the artist paints one dot at a time. The rug is then knotted, a process which takes many months, a form of paint by numbers on a grand scale. In a tribal dwelling the weaver often uses their own designs and inspiration. Ryan Malone of Little-Persia believes Persian rugs are art, art in its most natural and pure form:
“Pablo Picasso believed that 'Painting is just another way of keeping a diary'. For many of our tribal rugs this could be taken in a literal sense. Nomadic weavers initially knotted rugs as a means of earning money for food and whatever clothing and shelter they could not produce themselves. Today many tribal rugs act as a diary of the weavers' life, a representation of their possessions, wealth or lifestyle - whatever is most important to them. War rugs act as a historic reference to key moments in history, for better or worse. Abstract expressionist, Jackson Pollock stated: 'every good painter paints what he is' in tribal rugs a small piece of the weaver's soul is attached to each rug.
“With city rugs, intricate designs are often borrowed from nature and architecture or religious and cultural symbols. From simple elephant and camel prints to the extravagant mogul gardens and the detailed carvings on the domes of ancient mosques and palaces, inspiration comes from the life and surroundings of the rug artists. City rugs demonstrate the weavers' aptitude in the use of symmetry, detail and colour.
“Similar to the various ideologies that exist in painting rugs can differ in purpose and appeal. However, no matter if the rug is tribal or city woven, the end goal is the same, to paraphrase Banksy: 'the holy grail is to spend less time making the rug than it takes people to look at it.' A tough ask when a Persian rug can takes months or years to make.”
October 30, 2009 No Comments
Value of Oriental Carpets
Oriental carpets are known for the elegance and comfort they added in the place where they can be seen. They are used as ornaments even during the ancient times because people have the need on embellishing the places where they live. To meet that need of beautifying their environment, the use of carpets as ornaments in houses emerged. There are investigations that confirmed the occurrence of oriental carpets during the ancient times. Some specialists believe that pile carpet was first used by the nomadic people of Central Asia to provide them insulation, protection from wild animals and comfort. The production of the relatives of the oriental carpets reached the Near East because those nomadic people had contacts in the Near East. Because of these, the Near East’s manner of producing carpets was greatly influenced by the nomadic culture. During the medieval period, the carpet making tradition reached the Islamic countries when those Asian people tried to take over the eastern Islamic world. The pile carpet making became a standard attribute of the Islamic culture and arts. Those elegant oriental carpets also caught the attention of the wealthy Europeans.
Because of the colonization of different countries, the carpet making tradition broaden proliferate all over the world. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the European’s interest in oriental carpets had been regained when the weaving of rug was revived under the Qajar dynasty. This period also got the Americans as market for those carpets. The carpet production in Turkey and India was also revived during this period. Because of the number of elegant designs of those carpets and rugs, the western countries became very fond of using oriental carpets, which led to the increase of its production up to the present time.
Recent development in the carpet production is the revitalization of the hand spinning of wool and the use of natural dye extracted from vegetables. This technique of making rugs added quality and design and can be well compare to the antique oriental carpets. However, antique carpets have still much value than the new ones. They create the link between the modern time and the ancient times. This is why antique carpets have to be protected and insured due to their high value.
Because oriental carpets carry the culture and tradition of the ancient people, antique carpets should be highly valued. Oriental carpet appraisal is normally done to find out the value of the antique carpets. Because of their magnificent designs and colors, those high-valued oriental carpets can be a big investment. This is why appraisal of those carpets are needed to protect them or for the owner to replace it in case that accidents that might cause damage or loss of those carpets.
Estimating the value of the oriental carpets is also needed if you want to sell those oriental carpets. The price of the carpets will depend on its design, condition, and its age. The design and complexity of the patterns of oriental carpet play a huge part in the cost of the carpet. The higher the intricacy of the design, the larger it would cost.
February 25, 2009 No Comments