A layout in which the field is divided into a grid of framed, mostly square panels, each holding its own imagined garden of flowers, plants, trees and birds, usually on a single background color of its own. Scenes vary, from cypress trees and villas to lakes, deer in a forest or a tree of life, and in some rugs the panels carry the four seasons. Weavers treat each panel as a window onto paradise and a sign of hope for a bright future. Best known from Bakhtiari rugs, it is also woven in Tabriz, Sarouk, Kashmar, Kerman and Qum. The Persian name Kheshti comes from khesht (“brick”), after the square frames.
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”.
Persian city rugs from Isfahan in central Iran, among the most finely knotted anywhere: usually 500-700 KPSI (roughly 7,750-10,850 knots per 10 x 10 cm), second only to Qum. Most are woven in fine kork wool from young sheep; some have a silk-and-woolpile on a silk or cotton foundation, and a few are reportedly pure silk. Designs draw on nature and the city's architecture, from medallion-and-corner and floral allover layouts to hunting scenes, trees of life, prayer niches and pictorial gardens, usually in soft pastels with indigo and bright red on an ivory ground. Most pieces are signed, and large sizes are scarce and costly.
The number of knots per square inch of a hand-knotted rug (KPSI; 1 KPSI is about 15.5 knots per 10 x 10 cm), counted on the back with a ruler as knots per vertical inch times knots per horizontal inch, averaged over two or three areas. More knots give sharper detail and, all else equal, somewhat more durability and a higher price, but density alone does not grade quality: Heriz and Bijar are durable at low to medium counts, while floral curvilinear designs blur without enough knots. Rough figures: under about 80 for coarse tribal weaves such as Gabbeh and Qashqai, 120 to 225 for many village rugs, 300 to 700 for fine city rugs such as Nain and Isfahan, and 600 to 1,000 or more for pure silk Qum.
A fine, soft grade of wool taken from the neck and inner fleece layer of young sheep, often from the first shearing. Oily with natural lanolin, it feels soft and resilient and gives colors extra shine. It is used for the pile of many fine city rugs from Isfahan, Kerman, Qum, Tabriz, and Mashad, and older antique Sarouks cut to a short pile use it too. Also spelled cork or kurk wool.
Small rugs made for Islamic prayer, each featuring a mihrab (also spelled mehrab), an arched doorway that symbolizes the niche of a mosque and reminds the person praying that they stand in a sacred space; the arch also marks the direction of Mecca. The design is unidirectional, meant to be viewed from one end, and the arch may be a bare outline or an elaborate architectural frame with columns. Prayer rugs are often no larger than about 3' x 5' (0.9 x 1.5 m), are said to date back to the very early stages of rug making in Muslim lands, and are woven by Turkmen, Baluchi, Qum, Isfahan and Malayer weavers, among others. Any small rug can serve for prayer, but a true prayer rug carries the arch as its focal point.
A rug whose pile is entirely silk, woven on a cotton foundation or on a silk foundation; when both are silk, no wool enters the rug. Silk's fineness allows the highest knot density of any Persian rug, roughly 600 to 1,000 knots per square inch (about 9,300 to 15,500 per 10 x 10 cm), so the pile is kept low to show the design, and the fibers give a luminous sheen that shifts with the light. About 90 percent of Qum rugs are silk on both foundation and pile, as are some Isfahan rugs. These are the most expensive Persian rugs; they are delicate and stains are hard to remove, so they suit display, formal rooms or wall hanging rather than dining rooms or homes with pets.
Persian rugs from the city of Qum (Qom), a comparatively young weaving center whose rugs are known for the highest knot density of any Persian type. About nine in ten are pure silk on a silk foundation, at roughly 600 to 1,000 knots per square inch (KPSI; about 93 to 155 per cm²); the rest, with kork wool or silk-and-wool piles, run about 300 to 700 KPSI (about 47 to 108 per cm²). Designs are floral medallions, hunting scenes and pictorials, mostly in soft pastel, ivory, gold and green tones (a pistachio-green field is prized) on light or dark grounds. Newer rugs usually carry a workshop signature, older ones often do not. The local water is said to soften and brighten silk, so silk rugs from across Iran are sent there for washing.
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.
A rug whose pile combines silk and wool, usually mostly wool with silk yarn knotted into chosen details such as floral motifs to add sheen and sharpen the pattern. Silk is finer than wool and permits denser knotting, roughly 400 to 700 knots per square inch (about 6,200 to 10,850 per 10 x 10 cm) on a cotton foundation and 500 to 1,000 (about 7,750 to 15,500) on a silk foundation, although Nain, almost always on cotton, drops lower in its coarser la grades, where a higher la number means fewer knots. The wool keeps the pile thick and durable and the price below that of pure silk, though above that of wool alone. Tabriz, Nain, Mashad, Bijar, Isfahan and Qum all weave these rugs, usually with the pile cut short to show the detail.
A rug base in which the warp and weft threads are silk rather than the usual cotton or wool. Silk is finer and thinner, so many more knots fit into each square inch; silk-based rugs typically run about 500 to 1,000 knots per square inch (roughly 78 to 155 per square centimeter). It is found mainly in fine traditional city rugs, most commonly Qum and Isfahan, and also in select Tabriz workshops and some fine YomutTurkmen pieces described in the trade. The pile above may be wool, silk and wool, or pure silk.
A layout of vases holding flowers, spread across the rug, often with one large vase at the center surrounded by smaller ones around the medallion, the arrangement then repeated over the whole field. In Persian tradition the flowering vase stands for growth and opportunity, and it is also read as a symbol of abundance and paradise. The design is typical of Kashmar rugs and is also found in Bakhtiari, Tabriz, Sarouk, Qum and Kashan rugs; in Kashmar and Kashan rugs vases can also appear in the border.