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. 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; some have a silk-and-wool pile on a silk or cotton foundation, and a few are 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.
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.
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 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), and gives 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.
Persian rugs from the city of Qum (Qom), a comparatively young weaving center whose rugs are among the densest of any Persian type. Most are pure silk on a silk foundation, at roughly 600 to 1,000 knots per square inch (KPSI); those with kork wool or silk-and-wool piles run about 300 to 700 KPSI. Designs are floral medallions, hunting scenes and pictorials, mostly in soft pastel, ivory, gold and green tones on light or dark grounds, and newer rugs usually carry a workshop signature. 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 the standards of that workshop, and signed pieces from famous workshops are sought by collectors. Not every workshop rug is signed, and a workshop can stop using its signature. Isfahan rugs and newer Qum rugs usually carry one, while Nain rugs and silk-foundation Yomut Turkoman rugs seldom do.
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 permits finer knotting, so counts run 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. The wool keeps the pile thick and durable and the price below that of pure silk. Tabriz, Nain, Mashad, Bijar, Isfahan and Qum all weave these rugs, and the pile is usually clipped 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 a special group of Yomut Turkoman rugs. 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.