Qom in pure silk | 200 x 137 cm | Nr. 17221

Floral Qom in pure silk, cream white with border, medallion and signature

Origin	Persia
Dimensions	200 cm x 137 cm (= 2.74 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: pure silk Weft & Warp: pure silk
knots per m²2	800.000
Pile height	4mm
Year of manufacture	2000
Colour	Cream white, Rust red
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, around 100 km south of the capital Tehran. Since Qom had no long-standing tradition of rug knotting to build on, patterns were and still are adopted from other weaving regions. Over time, however, a style of its own developed from 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. This piece of true knotting artistry rightly bears the pride and the name of its weaver in the form of a signature, which translates as: "Iran Qom Mousavi"

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.

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

At the heart of this Qom's central field lies the symmetrical centrepiece, also known as the medallion. The design of the field is subordinate to the medallion, so that the medallion seems to float on the field.

A special highlight of this Qom is its signature. The signature records that it was made in one of the most renowned weaving workshops in Qom. Written in Arabic script, it speaks of the individual character and the noble origins of this rug.

The background of this Qom is cream white. The border is worked in rust red, light brown and turquoise. In the rust-red centre, olive green and blue-grey are combined.

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 highlight and gives the room an atmosphere that is both cosy and thoroughly elegant and refined. Silk is gathered by hand from the cocoons of the silk moth. Because the individual silk filaments are extremely long, very fine yarns can be spun that are light in weight yet still tear-resistant. Fine yarn allows smaller knots to be tied and therefore more detailed patterns to be worked. This 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 are possible.