Rugs from Persia – hand-knotted

Nain is one of the best-known rug provenances (origin, place of production) in Iran. The town of Nain lies north-west of Isfahan and has a long weaving tradition. Before the Qajar dynasty (1794 - 1925), the finest cloaks for noblemen – known as abas – were made here. Under the influence of Western culture, the suit displaced the traditional cloak as everyday dress. The weavers shifted their trade and began knotting rugs.

Today's rugs from Nain owe their unmistakable patterns and colour combinations above all to the master weaver Hadj Fatollah Habibian Naiini. When knotting, he limited himself to fewer than ten colours, laying the foundation for the colour composition of the Nain rugs that remain so popular today. The Base colours are still mostly white or beige and blue, though Nain rugs in red, green and yellow are appearing more and more often. Floral patterns are typical, their contours accentuated in silk. Thanks to their understated elegance, Nain rugs also work beautifully in modern interiors.

Nain rugs are grouped into four quality grades, which are given in Lah (the Persian word for layer). Lah describes the number of threads twisted together to form the warp. The more threads used, the thicker the warp and therefore the knots — and the lower the knot density.

Bijar lies in the province of Kermanshah in north-western Iran. Bijar rugs are among the sturdiest and finest Oriental rugs. Most of the people in Bijar are Kurds.

In the Kurdish Bijar rug, a particularly thick weft yarn, which is extremely hard, is beaten in. The result is a board-stiff rug that is exceptionally hard-wearing. Younger Bijar rugs in particular are decorated with the typical Herati pattern, which is also called the fish pattern (or Mahi pattern) .

Sarough (also Sarouk, Saruk or Sarogh) is one of Iran's best-known rug-knotting regions. Located in the west Persian province of Aarak, it takes in the provenances of Arak, Djozan, Ghiasabad, Mahal, Malayer, Mohajeran, Sultanabad and Wiss. In Sarough, Persian patterns of every kind are knotted, some of them to the customer's own specifications. Weavers are especially fond of the neighbouring Farahan designs as well as their own Sultanabad designs and the so-called Mir-i-Boteh pattern made up of paisley motifs. Typical of this type of rug is the very good wool quality of the pile, since the new wool comes from the Persian highlands. The foundation – warp and weft – is usually cotton, however. On old and antique rugs you will often find a blue weft thread. The knotting is very fine and the pile relatively high.

A special case in Iran's art of rug knotting are the so-called American Saroughs, which were knotted between 1900 and 1940 especially for the American market. The colours of the American Saroughs are limited to rust, red, blue and a few brown and beige tones, and they carry a floral pattern that usually does without a central medallion. In the 1970s these pieces became very popular in Iran as well, and were re-imported. Hence the name. Only a very few pieces made their way from Iran on to Europe. That is why the pieces first re-imported into Iran are particularly rare.