Old Varamin | 159 x 128 cm | Nr. Z-54

Old Varamin

Delivery time	2 days
Origin	Persia
Dimensions	159 cm x 128 cm (= 2.04 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes)
knots	200.000
Condition	pre-owned, but in very good condition (cleaned & restored)
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Varamin (also spelled Veramin) lies a good 50 km south-east of Iran's capital Tehran, in the north of the country, and was an important administrative centre under Mongol rule. Because the capital Tehran is so close and wages there are higher, Veramin rugs are now hardly knotted at all. It is assumed that the knotting craft took hold here at roughly the same time as in Qom, that is at the beginning of the 20 century, and that the workshops were once set up by investors from Tehran. What speaks for this theory above all are the colour compositions of early Varamins, which recall those of Qom rugs.

This Old Varamin is around 46 years old and a true collector's piece.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Old Varamin is more than 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural dyes and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant dyes is more complicated, more expensive and more time-consuming than dyeing with chemical dyes. For a luminous red, for example, you need around one kilo of ground madder root as dye for every kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that is not too pale, you even need two kilograms of weld dye per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is just as time-consuming and labour-intensive. What is more, fewer and fewer people still know how to spin wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: dyeing with natural colours allows the high-quality wool to keep its natural oil content. Wool that has been dyed with natural colours and spun by hand creates fascinating, shimmering patterns. The charm of hand-spun wool, with its slight irregularities and natural shades, comes into its own as a contrast in modern interiors, but equally in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country style.

The weft and warp threads of this Old Varamin are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic, which makes it particularly well suited to a hard-wearing foundation.

Condition

You are not the first to take a liking to this Old Varamin. It had owners before you who valued it and put it to use. It was knotted around 46. We have cleaned it thoroughly and restored it with care. Despite its age, it is therefore in very good condition.