Materials
The outcome of dying quality materials such as silk and wool using traditional and well-renowned methods, is that you get superior rugs. The quality of the rug is accentuated by it being spun into yarn and bounded by competent artisans onto a firm surface, which is predominantly cotton.
Silk
A glossy long filament fibre, silk has been appreciated for centuries for its smooth feel and eye-catching array of colours. Silk rugs certainly add a touch of luxury to a room, which adds to the decor and appeal of a room. The majority of rugs are produced in China, as they are quite genteel and a touch more delicate than wool, being ideally suited to an area of your home which is not used that much.
Live Wool
The most reputable handmade rugs are composed from wool which is taken from a live sheep, which explains the term ‘live wool’. Goat hair, which is also known as cashmere is usedon occasion, along with camel hair. It is pertinent that goat hair is not dyed very often, with its natural beige colour having a certain aesthetic quality. Wool which derives from animals who reside in countries with a cold climate is often more durable and long-lasting as it is denser. Lamb’s wool is a good example of this. Wool is a soft and natural fibre which has a multitude of applications in the textile industry. Its springiness is mainly due to the lanolin it contains, which makes it waterproof and hence more resilient. Wool has many other desirable qualities, such as its soil resistance. It looks good and fits a number of products. As it absorbs dye so brilliantly, wool yarns can be formulated in a whole spread of colours, from the most piercing reds to lighter and calmer hues of yellow and lime green. When knotted onto a solid foundation, wool wears like iron. The very best hand-knitted wools can last up to a century, which is incredible durability. Furthermore, the quality of a wool rug actually increases over time, maturing like a fine wine. It can even end up resembling a natural silk, due to te oils it absorbs, making it moist and springy.
Cotton
A strong, entirely natural fibre, which has been in use for many years, Cotton is predominantly used as the foundation of hand-knitted rugs, as it is less vulnerable to humidity than wool and silk, thus reducing the amount it is stretched. Cotton strands are put onto bespoke looms to erect the warp (length) and weft (width) of the rug foundation. The person who makes the rugs will work from the bottom up, connecting knots of silk and wool onto cotton cords. One of the most eye-catching elements of a rug is the delicate cotton fringing at the bottom and the top of the rug. When the weaver has ceased knotting, the cotton cods are cut and then knotted into the fringe.
Dye
The art of dying wool, cotton and silk with natural materials has been prevalent throughout history. Derivatives from assorted flora and fauna are used as naturally-occuring dyes. Sometimes it is feasible for a expert to determine where a rug originates from due to the composition of the dye it contains.
Producing dyes from natural substances can be an arduous task. The materials have to be grown, collected, treated, before being manufactured. As a lot of plants and fruits are only available at certain times of the year, chemical, synthetic dyes are sometimes employed as a dependable and ever-available alternative. They espouse the same qualities as natural materials. Developed in the last half a century, chromium dyes are colourfast and reliable in quality. They can also be processed in a wide selection of tints and hues, which match the assortment of colours vegetable dyes come in. In the contemporary era, skilled artists can work with fibres that are a mixture of the two types of dyes. The best artists are those who create rugs that are rich in colour, with depth and sophistication.
Note: Antique Persian and Oriental rugs which were dyed with ‘natural’ materials in the 1800s could e quite expensive, although rare. If you would like to purchase this sort of rug, we recommend that you buy from an entirely reputable vendor.
History
The artistic design and quality of Persian rugs reached its pinnacle during the Safavid Dynasty (1499-1722), because the reigns of Shah Tahmasp and Shah Abbas created a weaving industry that focused on large-scale artistic and commercial enterprise revolving around highly skilled and organized weaving workshops.
Royal workshops were established specifically for designers and weavers to work creating the best carpets with intricate designs, using silk with silver or gold thread for additional decoration. Artists would create the carpet designs, and the best designs would be woven by the best weavers in the empire. The patronage of the shahs ensured the carpets were top-notched.
The Ardabil Carpet: A Sixteenth Century Masterpiece 23×13 foot carpet was created in a period of cultural, political, and religious flowering during the Safavid Dynasty (1501-1732).
During this time, trade was established with Europe with Persian rugs as one of the threads that spurred economic exchange, and Persia reached its golden age. The majority of the prized Persian rugs were made from during this time with the two greatest rugs wove in the mosque of Ardebil in 1539 (which are now located in Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the other one in “Los Angles” County Museum).
The Safavid Dynasty, along with court-endorsed carpet making, ended with the Afghan invasion in 1722. Nader Khan became the Shah of Persia in 1736 but used his people to fight against the Turks, Afghans, and the Russian. Rug weaving survived with craftsmen in villages and nomads continuing to make carpets. However, the artistic designs and quality were not up to par as was in the Safavid period, and no high-valued carpets were woven during this period.
Toward the end of the 19th century, carpet weaving and trade flourished once again. Through trading via Istanbul, Americans and Europeans took an interest in Persian rugs and even established carpet businesses for rugs destined to the West.
Today, carpet making is revived and wide-spread, due to the interest from Western countries with weaving made from workshops and in most Iranian homes.
What Makes Persian Rugs Unique?
Iran is the genesis of most motifs, patterns and traditional colouration produced in rugs throughout the world today.Susie Beringer at Texas Christian University
A Persian rug has a wide variety designs and styles, and trying to organize them in to a category is a very difficult task. With the passage of time, the materials used in carpets, including wool and cotton, decay. Therefore archaeologists are not able to make any particularly useful discoveries during archaeological excavations, save for special circumstances.
What has remained from early times as evidence of carpet-weaving is nothing more than a few pieces of worn-out rugs. And such fragments do not help very much in recognizing the carpet-weaving characteristics of pre-Seljuk period (13th and 14th centuries AD) in Persia.
Among the oldest pieces discovered are those found in Eastern Turkemanstan, dating back to the third to fifth centuries AD, and also some of the hand-weavings of the Seljuks of Asia Minor on exhibit in Ala’edin Mosque in Konya and Ashrafoghlu Mosque in Beyshehir, Turkey. These pieces attracted the attention of researchers earlier this century, and now they are kept in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul and the Mowlana Museum in Konya.