Types Of Persian Rugs
Persian rugs can be classified into Persian City Rugs and
Persian Tribal Rugs. Each type within these two is normally
named after the city or tribal name in which it is manufactured
and designed. These are some of the most popular Persian rugs
(the first four fall under Persian City Rugs):
Afshar Rugs: These are smaller rugs usually designed with
geometric pattern. Multiple connected medallions in diamond
shape, All-over gul farangi (roses), botehs, and chicken-like
motifs (Afshar-e-Morghi) are the common designs. Colors range
from dark red, reddish brown, brown, dark reddish-blue, dark
blue, burnt orange, ocher, and camel. The foundation is often
wool, but cotton foundation may also be used in some rugs.
Tabriz Rugs: Most of the designs are curvilinear though
geometric are also found. The symmetric (Turkish) knot is common
with numerous colors used in one rug, and very diverse in
palette. The common background and border colors used in this
design are pink, peach, camel, beige, and ivory. The overall
look of Tabriz rugs is pastel. Motifs may come in an assortment
of colors such as blue, green, yellow, orange, and lavender. The
foundation is usually silk and wool pile with silk highlights.
Kashan Rugs: About 95% of the Kashan rugs pattern is
curvilinear. An elongated diamond-shaped and lobed medallion
with floral pendants is a popular traditional design. This
design usually has a navy medallion with similar corners and
border in a red background or vise versa. Vase, hunting and
pictorial are also popular. The common background Kashan rug
colors are navy, rich red, beige and ivory. Other colors such as
red, blue, turquoise, ocher, beige, white, brown and
occasionally green are used for the designs.
Kerman Rugs: These are also mostly curvilinear in pattern. They
are famous for Kerman pictorials which fall under the pictorial
category of pattern. Traditional Kerman designs include all-over
floral, boteh, stripes, paneled garden, prayer, vase, garden,
hunting, animal, and pictorials using both Persian and European
themes etc. Modern versions consist of Aubussons or Koran
(Quran) medallion-and-corners with an open field. Rich red,
red-blue, lime green, pink, ivory, gray-blue, turquoise, orange,
champagne and beige are some of the colors commonly used.
Baluch Rugs: These rugs are hand-woven by the nomadic people of
the Baluch tribe in southern Iran, following an ancient Persian
tradition, dating back to 2500 years. The design is unique with
an overall pattern, with rich burgundy with some navy and ivory
as the main colors.
Shiraz Rugs: Hand-woven rugs made in Shiraz, Central Iran,
simply done with crudely done with the pile cut long with plain
color schemes. Geometric motifs, small animals or plants are
commonly used in the designs with selvages done with a
barber-pole effect using two colors. Red is the main color used.
Wiss Rugs: These tribal handcrafted rugs come from the village
of Wiss, near Hamedan in Iran. Traditional dense floral patterns
with vases, foliage, palmettes, and garden elements are commonly
used. Dark shade of red or burgundy is the main color. Wiss rugs
are known for the resemblance to Arak and Tabriz designs.