Village rugs woven in the Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran, where Tabriz rugs also originate (the Iranian region, not the country of that name), traditionally by families working indoors through the cold winters. Designs pass down the generations without written blueprints, each generation adding small personal touches. A dense, durable wool pile on a cotton foundation carries mostly geometric layouts, sometimes with curvilinear florals or boteh, in vegetable-dyed navy and deep reds. Knot density is commonly quoted at about 120 to 170 KPSI (roughly 1,900 to 2,600 per 10 by 10 cm), and the thick pile suits busy areas, including runners wider than about 3 feet (90 cm).
A Tabriz workshop known for some of the most unusual designs in the city, woven on a silk foundation at extremely high densities of about 700 to 1,200 knots per square inch (roughly 108 to 186 per cm²). That is far above the 50 to 500 knots per square inch (about 8 to 78 per cm²) typical of Tabriz rugs as a whole, which makes its rugs exceptionally fine and detailed pieces.
One of three master weavers of Tabriz, with Kurban Dai and Sheikh Safi, who are credited with making possible the export of Tabriz rugs to the West. Weaving in the city goes back to the 1500s, but that export trade did not begin until the 1900s.
A pictorial layout in which the field is filled with animals in the chase or in flight, such as leopard, stag, fox, rabbit and birds. Some examples hold well over a hundred different animals, and a few carry a second scene in the border instead of the usual flowers, for instance herons, cranes or deer resting under blossom trees. The design is woven in Isfahan, Qum, Kerman and Tabriz rugs. The Persian term shikargah (also shekargah) means “hunting ground”.
A layout built around one large central medallion with a matching motif set into each of the four corners of the field. Kashan rugs typically use it, with the corner pieces usually in the same color as the medallion, and it also appears in Hamadan, Bakhtiari, Kashmar, Heriz and Tabriz rugs. Village and tribal examples tend to be geometric, while Bakhtiari medallions are often semi-geometric, ringed by geometric motifs and filled with florals.
A classic Persian floral style named after the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas, which began as a royal court pattern about 400 years ago. Its main features are stylized, feather-like palmette leaves and lotus flowers, the lotus being an ancient symbol of long life, arranged in strict symmetry with scrolling ornament around a central medallion, often a rosette. Early examples favored deep reds and blues, while later rugs in this style often turn to muted neutral tones. The design appears in Kashan, Nain and Tabriz rugs.
The ornament set into each of the four corners of the field around a central medallion, usually echoing the medallion's motifs or color; in Tabriz rugs the corners are often made by dividing the medallion design into four and using one part per corner. Spandrels complete a medallion-and-corner layout, and in a well-made rug the corner pieces match one another and sit symmetrically.
Rugs from Tabriz, the large northwestern Iranian city and former Safavid capital, and its surrounding villages, where weaving is traced back at least to the 1500s. Weavers use the Turkish knot and small metal hooks, which give very regular, symmetrical patterns, usually on a cotton foundation (silk for the finest pieces), often double-wefted, with a short-clipped to medium pile. Densities run from about 50 to 500 knots per square inch (roughly 8 to 78 per cm²), silk-foundation pieces can exceed 600, and silk highlights lend vibrancy to floral designs. Some workshops weave only silk-and-wool rugs, favoring pastels. Tabriz offers the widest range of designs and colors of any Persian source: medallion, floral, Herati, hunting and vase patterns, plus most pictorial portraits. A rug sold as “Tabriz-style” is not necessarily woven in Tabriz.
A rug that a dealer labels with a famous rug city's name plus “style,” as in Tabriz-style. Such a rug is not necessarily authentic: a genuine Tabriz rug comes from Iran and, within Iran, from the city of Tabriz, whereas rugs from countries such as Pakistan, India or China can resemble Persian designs without being Persian. A “-style” label is therefore a cue to ask for the exact country and city of origin, since origin indicates a rug's typical colors and quality.
One of the two main knots of hand-knotted rugs, also called the symmetrical knot (the other being the asymmetrical Persian or Senneh knot). The yarn is looped around two adjacent warp threads with both ends emerging between them, so the back shows small, even, squarish knot heads; weavers often tie it with a hook. Named after the town of Ghiordes (modern Gördes) in Turkey, it is typical of Turkey, the Caucasus and northwestern Iran (Tabriz, Bijar, Heriz, village Hamadan), where Seljuk Turks are said to have introduced it, and gives a durable, precise pile. The Persian knot is often credited with finer detail, yet knot type is a tendency, not a limit: Tabriz rugs woven with the Turkish knot reach about 500 knots per square inch (roughly 78 per cm²).