Qom | 218 x 134 cm | Nr. 17552

Floral Qom, dark red with border

Origin	Persia
Dimensions	218 cm x 134 cm (= 2.92 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool with pure silk Weft: cotton Warp: pure silk
knots per m²2	420.000
Pile height	5mm
Year of manufacture	1970
Colour	Dark red, Light blue
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 long knotting tradition of its own to build on, patterns were – and still are – adopted from other weaving regions. Over time, however, a distinctive style grew out of this. Today the silk rugs from Qom are among the most celebrated and finest rugs in the world. The field of Qom rugs often has a light ground, decorated with finely drawn medallion patterns or all-over boteh or vase motifs.

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 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 blue. Dark red and light blue also dominate the overall impression. The border is worked in dark red, dark blue and olive green.

Condition

This Qom has had admirers before you. It was hand-knotted around 1970. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good, though only partly restored, condition. On one side, part of the knotted fabric is missing. We have not restored this Qom completely, because we feel it has a special presence just as it is. If that is what you would like, we will of course carry on restoring the rug for you. We can bring almost any rug back to near-perfect condition.

Material

The pile of this Qom was hand-knotted from high-quality new wool. New wool is obtained by gently shearing sheep. The pattern is worked in pure silk, so that the colours of this Qom's pattern shine in different facets depending on how the light falls. New wool is a renewable, natural raw material with a number of impressive properties: thanks to the natural lanolin in the wool, the surface repels droplets of water and is naturally protected against dirt. Wool also offers excellent thermal insulation, helps regulate the indoor climate and dampens sound. Silk is obtained by hand from the cocoons of the silkworm. Because the individual silk filaments are extremely long, very fine yarns can be spun that are light in weight yet still tear-resistant. This fine yarn makes it possible to tie smaller knots and so to create finer patterns. That is why the finest rugs in the world are hand-knotted from pure silk. The weft threads of this Qom are made of cotton. Pure silk was used for the warp threads.