Qom in pure silk | 130 x 75 cm | Nr. 19030

Floral Qom in pure silk, light brown with border

Origin	Persia
Dimensions	130 cm x 75 cm (= 0.98 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: pure silk Weft & Warp: pure silk
knots per m²2	720.000
Pile height	3mm
Year of manufacture	1980
Colour	Light brown, blue-grey
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Qom is a relatively young provenance for Persian rugs. The city of Qom (also Ghom, Ghoum, Goum) lies in the centre of Iran, about 100 km south of the capital Tehran. Since Qom had no old rug-knotting tradition to build on, patterns were and still are adopted from other knotting regions. Over time, however, a style of its own has grown out of this. The silk rugs from Qom are today among the most famous and finest rugs in the world. The field of rugs from Qom often has a light ground decorated with finely drawn medallion patterns or all-over boteh or vase designs. The border of this unusual prayer rug is decorated with Persian script.

Pattern

The lavish floral motifs of this Qom are elegant and wonderfully varied. The graceful plant symbols, depicting blossoms, leaves and branches, are artfully intertwined.

This Qom is graced by the so-called Mehrab or Mihrab motif. Mehrab refers to the Islamic prayer niche in mosques, which indicates the qibla, the direction of prayer towards Mecca. Traditionally, rugs with the Mehrab motif are used by Muslims for prayer and are therefore especially precious.

The ornate border forms a wonderful contrast with the centre and shapes the transition at the edge of the rug.

The background of this Qom is light brown. The border is worked in blue-grey and olive green.

Condition

This Qom has a story to tell. It was hand-knotted around 1980. We have cleaned it thoroughly and lovingly restored it. Despite its age, it is therefore in very good condition.

Material

The silk pile of this Qom makes the colours of the pattern glow in different shades, depending on how the light falls. It turns this Qom into a real jewel and creates an atmosphere in the room that is cosy and at the same time very elegant and refined. Silk is obtained by hand from the cocoons of the silk moth. Because the individual silk filaments are extremely long, they can be spun into very fine yarns that are light in weight yet still tear-resistant. Fine yarn allows smaller knots to be tied, and with them more intricate patterns. That is why the finest rugs in the world are hand-knotted from pure silk. In this Qom even the foundation is made of pure silk. Thanks to the thin but hard-wearing material of the weft and warp threads, a particularly fine knotting — and therefore a particularly fine pattern — is possible.