Persian Carpets



The earliest existing Persian carpets today come from the 16th century. We know however, that they have been portrayed in Persian miniature paintings from the 14th century onwards. Persian carpets of this time were entirely geometrically formed, mostly with small geometrical patterns (cross- or star forms and a Kufic border.

The turn of the century brought noticeable changes: tendrils and medallions now dominated the illustrations, distinct floral patterns enfolded.

A climax in the Persian art of knotting was reached during the Safavid dynasty (1502-1722), first and foremost Shah-Abbas the Great (1587-1629). In museums today one can find quite a few well known carpets from this time e.g. Polonaise carpets.

One particular carpet is, without a doubt, especially worth mentioning in this context, the so-called Ardabil carpet. It is one of the most important 19th century Persian carpets and was woven during the reign of Shah Tahmask the First. It is 11,50 x 5,34m big, i.e. 61,5m² and is made out of 32.000.000 knots. It carries the inscription: “Apart from your threshold I have no place of refuge in this world. My head is no place of trust without your threshold, in the year 946 (1539/40)”. The Ardabil carpet can be found exhibited in London in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Other famous carpets from this period are for example: the “Chelsea Carpet”, also to be seen in London, or the “Hunting Carpet” in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Mailand.

It is almost impossible to describe the variety of what was produced in Persia during the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th century. From the classic Herat- to the opulent Polonaise carpets, from the austere north-west Persian Tree carpets through the fantastic Garden carpets to the mysterious glowing Ferahan, from the Vase carpets from Kerman to the finely drawn Senneh: Every provenance is fascinating in its own individual way and repeatedly fills one with enthusiasm.

Turkish Carpets



Practically all Turkish carpets that are now in museums were made during the Ottoman Empire (1281-1924). Osman founded the Ottoman Empire. With the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 led by Mehmet ll., it became a major world power which later reached its greatest extent under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566).

Lots of Turkish carpets were brought already in the 16th and 17th century over the sea route to Italy and the Netherlands. They later appeared in paintings and were often named after artists. Through the dates on the pictures, the carpets could be chronically classified. The most well known types are the so-called Holbein and Lotto carpets.

The Ottoman Empire produced a great variety of the most different prayer rugs from Ghordes, Ladik etc…, and splendid, big, courtly carpets e.g. the famous Medallion and Star Ushaks. The patterns stay entirely ornamental and tend to be rather extensive. The knotting is also not as fine in comparison to Persian carpets.

The Ottoman carpets are most fascinating on account of their colourfulness and the strength and naturalness of their patterns. The colours are vivid; one very often finds clear light blue tones, a fiery red and splendid gold tones.

Caucasian Carpets



Caucasian carpets have been known about since the 15th century; their heyday was however clearly in the 19th century. And also most of the Caucasian carpets that nowadays belong to museums came from this period.

These carpets come from an area with an eventful history and inconsistent settlement, A few tribes settled in the very rugged landscape of the great Caucasus, as well as in the north of Caucasus and the southern Trans Caucasus and have, till this day, partly preserved their independence. Although as time went by they were integrated into the Assyrian, and later the Georgian and Armenian Empire and also became single participating Republics of the former USSR, they always continued to cultivate their own culture.

Azerbaidjaren, Armenians, Georgians, Mongolians, Kurds and the Crimean Tartars live here. The spoken languages are Russian and many tribal languages and dialects.

Caucasian carpets distinguish themselves by having a rich multitude of forms and outstanding expressiveness. They tend to usually be geometric and linear, although nearly all motifs can be traced back to floral ornaments. The carpets are very different in fineness and pattern, depending on their origin. They can however, because of these characteristic features be quite precisely classified.

Caucasian carpets from their heyday can still be found on the market and are therefore very popular amongst collectors.

Chinese Carpets



The Chinese carpets, like the Caucasian carpets, reached their height in the 19th century. Older specimens are mostly only small-format, for instance furniture and jewelry covers, wall hangings, saddlecloths and cloths for decorating pillars with. They were mostly made out of Mongolian wool and are seldom finely knotted. Carpets made out of silk are a rarity.

The patterns on Chinese carpets are very characteristic: like with paintings, the dominating feature is the tendency towards symbolism. Apart from Buddhist and Tao symbols, they also often use traditional mythological fantasy figures (dragons and phoenix), or otherwise nature symbols like mountains, clouds, waves and floral motifs.

Determining the age of Chinese carpets is, like determining their origin, unusually difficult and in most cases only partly possible. The reasons for this have to do with their production: the pattern and colour schemes of Chinese carpets have, in the whole of China and over longer periods of time, hardly changed.

Lots of viewers still feel as much of a special fascination for these carpets as ever. The dominating colours are deep shades of blue and soft natural wool colours. In older specimens there are also royal yellow, green, red-brown, gold, silver, apricot and salmon colours. The patterns are extensive and scant. The character of the textiles is especially nice: the wool is often very soft and smooth with a silky shine.

Other Provenances

Apart from the already mentioned countries of origin, where the majority of today’s museum collections come from, there are of course a group of carpets that come from other provenances. It would be going to far to name them all; however, I will briefly go into a couple of them.

At the time of the Mamluks, an important center of production existed in Egypt. The carpets have big Octagons as their primary motif, which remind one of the Turkish symbolism. They were produced in the 15th and 16th century and are made with a blue green colour that is unique. A later version of the “Mamluk carpets” are the “Cairene carpets”, or the “Chessboard rugs”.

There are carpets that come from Eastern Turkestan that are, because of their patterns, related to Chinese as well as Turkmen carpets. They are known as Khotan, Kashgar, Yarkand and Samarkand carpets. They have, since the 18th century, been made out of wool and silk, some of which have been embroidered in gold and silver.

In some collections and museums one can also find Spanish carpets. Most of them date back to the 15th century and were therefore still partly made during the Moorish rule on the Spanish peninsula. They often show patterns of Kufi-Bortan and Asia Minor with heraldic trimmings and were later also enriched by Christian and courtly motifs. They were knotted, until well into the 17th century, with a specific “Spanish knot”, equivalent to a simple loop, before they started using the Gördes knot.

In Indian they started knotting carpets in the 16th century during the reign of the Mogul Emperor Akbar (1556-1605). These carpets have been made in Safavid style and have a great similarity to the Persian carpets of this time. Nevertheless, they also developed their own characteristic patterns and colours.

In the complete isolation of Tibet in Southern Central Asia, the largest uplands in the world, a very individual form of production has developed. The art of knotting carpets was brought to Tibet already during the 15th century. It is assumed that craftsmen traveling along the silk route brought it; however, the oldest preserved specimens come from the 17th century. This is not surprising, since the carpets were almost never exported and therefore, as with the Turkmen carpets, did not, due to own usage, last over the centuries. The patterns that are typical for Tibet come from Buddhist origins.

The Turkmen are a wandering ethnic group, which have inhabited the Trans Caspian area between the Caspian Ocean, Amu-Darja, Aral Lake, north Afghanistan as well as the northeast Persian border for centuries. They consist of many different tribes, each with their own motifs (Göl), the most famous being Salor and Tekke, as well as Yomut and Chaudor. Salor is known to be the eldest Turkoman tribe and is genealogically attached to the Tekke tribe – a certain “Toi-Tutmas” from the Salor tribe is supposed to be the progenitor of the Tekke tribe. The main Tekke tribe is divided into two main departments (Otamysh and Tochtamish), which split again into four smaller tribes. The earliest records to show the existence of the Salor Turkmen come from the 11th century. The Salor are, as are the Tekke, a nomadic tribe and they settled normally in the Achal-Oasis regions, as well as close to Tedschen and Meru (now Mary). In the 1870’s, tsarist Russia got ready to take over Southern Turkmenistan, which ended with the storming of fort Goektepe in 1881 and in Merv in 1883/84 and the Turkmen’s surrender. Lots of Turkmen, among them many Tekke’s and Salore’s, found, after they fled, new places to live in the northern areas of Afghanistan and Persia. The Salor Turkmen tribe were especially well know for their artistically interesting and high quality copper work, which Marco Polo already said to be the loveliest in the world. The oldest preserved Turkmen carpets go back to the 17th century and are sometimes also know as Buchara. The colouring is predominately red, brown and black and the pattern geometrical. Apart from carpets they also made many different bags and decorations. One can usually, immediately associate a piece of craft work with a certain tribe because they have characteristic major and minor gulls (primary and secondary motives).