Farahan | 89 x 60 cm | Nr. 19287

Floral Farahan, beige with an all-over pattern, central medallion and border

Origin	Pakistan
Dimensions	89 cm x 60 cm (= 0.53 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: cotton
knots per m²2	120.000
Pile height	5mm
Condition	new
Colour	Beige, light green
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Farahan is a district in the central Iranian province of Markazi. It gave its name to a classic floral pattern found on rugs from the Mahallat region around the town of Sultanabad.

From the 1870s onwards, the Mahallat region around the town of Sultanabad (formerly Arak) grew into an important centre for knotting Persian rugs for export. A key role in this was played by the English import house Messrs. Ziegler & Co. Ltd., run by a Swiss merchant, which opened a branch in Mahallat in 1883.

These rugs — also called Mahal, Ziegler-Mahal or simply Ziegler — were knotted in the surrounding villages to Western colour and pattern specifications. The blend of European design briefs in lighter, calmer colouring with classic patterns in the style of Farahan and Sultanabad rugs was very well received in Europe.

The success was enormous, and Ziegler rugs became an international mark of quality. The exquisite flow of the many-petalled flowers is particularly impressive in Ziegler rugs. Well-preserved antique Ziegler rugs fetch record prices today – above all in the USA. For some years now, these antique Ziegler designs have been re-knotted in high quality in Pakistan and India.

The newly issued Ziegler rugs, made from hand-spun wool dyed with natural colours, are part of a revival of hand-knotted rugs. This return to traditional techniques began in the early 1980s, driven not least by the so-called DOBAG initiative. At first the reproductions focused on the Ziegler rugs described above. In time, almost every traditional Persian pattern was being reproduced. The result: adaptations of antique rugs alongside contemporary designs with the charm of an antique piece.

Pattern

The lush floral motifs of this Farahan are elegant and full of variety. The graceful plant forms, showing blossoms, leaves and branches, are artfully intertwined.

The edge of the rug is framed by a surround (border). The border forms a splendid contrast to the centre.

The surface of this Farahan has a mottled look. The shifts in tone and the light-and-dark shading of the pile yarn make the colours shimmer and keep the rug forgiving of dirt. These so-called colour shifts, known as abrash, give the rug a livelier feel. The mottling occurs because the wool of this Farahan was hand-spun. During dyeing, the natural pigments are absorbed to differing degrees.

The recurring pattern (known as a repeat or rapport pattern) flatters the design of a room and does not steal attention from the furniture, the decoration or the architectural elements. It creates a pleasant atmosphere without dominating the style of the room. In this Farahan the repeating elements find their centre at the heart of the field, in the symmetrical medallion.

The background of this Farahan is beige. The border is worked in beige, light green and light brown. The light green centre combines light brown and rust red.

Material

The technique used to prepare the materials for this Farahan's pile is more than 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural colours and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant-based colours is more complex, 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 per kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that isn't too pale it even takes two kilograms of weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is just as time-consuming and labour-intensive. And fewer and fewer people still know how to spin wool by hand.

But the effort pays off: dyeing with natural colours lets the high-quality wool keep its natural lanolin content. Wool 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 just as much in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country style. The weft and warp threads of this Farahan are cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic, which makes it ideal for a hard-wearing foundation weave.