Persian Rugs

Persian rugs and carpets, with their intricate designs, beautiful use of colors are an artistic marvel, an art piece which gets better and more valuable with time. Though Oriental carpets have long been considered fascinating by the western world, Persian carpets are truly a prized possession. Genuine Persian carpets are hand made in Iran and use all natural materials like wool and silk and never a synthetic fiber. Every carpet is unique in its own way. In fact no two carpets from the same region or the same weaver will look alike!

Basically, the carpets are of three types; Farsh which is bigger than 6’x4’; Qalicheh or Rug which is lesser than 6’x4’, and Kilim, which are rough quality utility carpets used by tribesmen. The history of Persian carpets dates back to more than 25000 years ago. Originally, these carpets started as doormats but gradually it gained recognition and soon it found its place in the palaces and homes of Kings and other noblemen. Along the years the styles of carpets from Persia underwent a lot of change; there were Turkish and Islamic influences also.

Persian rugs or carpets, since, they are hand woven, are very valuable. The time taken to complete a carpet may vary and it may take few days for Persian rugs and many months for a large size, intricately designed carpet. For some people, they are the most treasured possession and a true connoisseur loves to collect Persian rugs. Most of the people in Iran are involved in carpet weaving and many rugs are named after the names of the cities of their origin like Tabriz, Mashad, Isfahan, Qom, and Heart.

Typically, Persian rugs are made of natural wool and silk. Sheep wool is commonly used but goat wool, camel wool is also used for these carpets. Lamb wool, which is much finer than sheep wool, too is used for carpets. The most luxurious and expensive Persian rugs are the ones which use Silk. Either the silk is added to the wool or the whole carpet is fully made of silk. Many of you would be surprised to know that silk is a very durable fiber and silk carpets can also last as long as the wool ones provided they are taken care of. The foundation or the base of the rug is commonly made of cotton but sometimes silk is used for silk carpets which takes the cost even higher.

A Persian rug design is very distinct. The Islamic influence brought the geometric pattern to the Persian rugs. Many carpets have animals, birds and other natural scenes depicted on them. Tree of life, centre point medallion and garden of paradise are few of the designs which are commonly found in Persian rugs and carpets. The color red is extensively used in carpets and so is the blue color, specifically called Indigo. A good quality Persian carpet can be distinguished by its KPSI (knots per square inch) count. The higher is the number of count, the better the quality of the Persian rug. Also, the type of knot is the basic difference between the Turkish and Persian carpets, with Turkish ones using two knots and Persian rugs have only a single knot. If one can evaluate a good quality Persian rug, then it is a very wise investment. These days many machine made rugs are passed off as Persian rugs to ignorant buyers.