A stylized, ribbon-like cloud motif that curls in soft, swirling lobes and is Chinese in derivation. It is among the motifs credited to the Mongol (Ilkhanid) period of Persian weaving, when designs from China were blended with Islamic art, together with the lotus, dragon and phoenix. Few rugs from that period survive.
The era of Mongol and Ilkhanid rule over Persia, which some rug histories date from the 1300s into the 1500s. It is credited with blending Chinese and Islamic art in Persian carpet design: pictorial, open-space compositions and motifs such as the phoenix, lotus, cloud band and dragon are traced to this contact, and Persian rug weaving as it is known today may have begun here. Little evidence remains, since much of the period's work was destroyed, but rare glimpses of its rugs show floral motifs and birds starting to appear.