A small framed box woven into a rug to hold the name of the master weaver or workshop, often together with the city. It is one of the two usual ways in which Persian city workshops sign a rug; the other is weaving the name directly into the border stripes.
The name of a weaver or workshop woven into a rug, either in a small framed box (a cartouche) or directly into the border stripes. It works as a maker's mark that ties the rug to that workshop's standards; signed pieces from famous workshops sell for more and are sought by collectors, and a rug sold under a workshop's signature must truly come from that workshop. Not every workshop rug is signed, and a workshop can stop using its signature. Isfahan rugs and newer Qum rugs usually carry one, while most Nain rugs and many older Qum rugs do not.
The Isfahan workshop founded in 1940 by Haj Agha Reza Seirafian, a banker who had long traded and produced carpets, and carried on by his family through several generations. It is widely regarded as the best-known name in fine Isfahan rugs, which are densely knotted in fine wool, sometimes with silk, in floral and medallion designs. As in other elite city workshops, the master's name is woven into a border or a small cartouche, which ties the rug to the workshop's strict standards and makes signed pieces sought after by collectors.