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Mixed Persians are available in the following sizes: 9'9x6'6 and 12x9.

Tabriz Maschad Kashan Kolyai Ardebil-Meshkin Serabend and Sarouk Mir

Malayer Husseinabad Lilihan Kerman Wiss Nain

Tabriz (Click for image)

The city of Tabriz, huddled on the edge of the Caucasus mountains in the far northwest of Iran, undoubtedly has by far the biggest range of designs and qualities of any manufacturing town in the whole of the Orient. The master weavers here are the best copiers of any Oriental design in Persia and it can be difficult sometimes to distinguish Tabriz production from other areas in Iran. The knot used in this city is predominantly the Turkish one which gives a squareness and regularity to the pattern. One must remember that Tabriz carpets can be made in many qualities ranging from around 50 knots per square inch up to those exceeding 400 knots per square inch. These differences in quality mean that Tabriz can run from inexpensive to extremely costly!!

Maschad (Click for image)

A city in northeastern Iran (Persia) in the the province of Khorassan. Carpet production started in Maschad in the late nineteenth century. It is the market town for a number of the surrounding villages and has a large carpet bazaar. Deep cochineal red predominates in the carpets of this bustling city renowned also for its wonderful fruit and vegetables. Carpets woven usually have central medallions. The weave is usually medium fine and they are an inexpensive and robust type of carpet. The demonination 'Turkbaff' means woven by someone of Turkic origin.

Kashan (Click for image)

The town of Kashan which lies between Qum and Isphahan on the old caravan route which skirts the Great Desert has been famous for its outstanding handicrafts for almost 800 years. In the late 1530's Kashan's fame as a textile centre led to the commissioning by Shah Tahmasp of one of the greatest all-time Persian carpets - the Ardebil, now in the V & A museum London. The standards set by the weavers of Kashan between 1900 and 1950, the balance they achieved between all the elements of structure, colour and design - that ideal unity of form and content - have established Kashan in many people's minds as the home of the very best in carpet weaving. Kashans being floral must be of necessity a finer weave as the flowing designs cannot be produced on rugs without a highish knot count.

Kolyai (Click for image)

The bold angular medallions of the rugs associated with the Kurdish weavers in Persia as well as with tribes like the Shahsavan are seen in abundance in the examples of village production of the Kolyai tribe around Sonqur in western Iran, who are the biggest rug producers amongst the Kurds. The weave is good, the pile dense and the price moderate, making them very popular with western buyers. These rugs are often classified as Hamadan from the market town where they are sold in the bazaar.

Ardebil - Meshkin (Click for image)

When during the Second World War, the supply of Shirvans and other Russian Caucasian types dwindled to practically nothing, the weavers of Ardebil and Meshkin near the Caspian Sea in Persian Azerbaijan stepped in to fill the void created. The designs are nearly always geometric as per their Caucasian cousins. Meshkins of late have retained a pleasant rustic quality as found previously in the Caucus, no longer evident in new Russian production which is factory based and almost too uniform and perfect for hand-made rugs. The most popular pattern employed is the all-over herati motif (diamond shaped leaf and flower) similar to that found from Bidjar and Tabriz.

Serabend and Sarouk Mir (Click for image 1) (Click for image 2)

Serabend rugs and carpets are instantly recognisable from their all-over boteh design (known as Paisley in Canada). The botehs are usually small between one or two centimeters high. It is a region of Persia high above sea-level between Arak and Borujird. The name Serabend means 'cold place'. They occasionally have a central medallion made up of it's famous geometric border motif called 'shekeri'. Mir Serabend is a finer version of the Serabend. They are made in all sizes including carpets. They are woven predominantly in red, though cream and navy are not uncommon. The large pieces make excellent dining room carpets as there is usually no central motif to cover with the table. Saruk Mir is the same pattern but woven in the southwest town and district of Saruk.

Malayer

Malayer is a region containing many villages that sell their goods in the bazaar of Hamadan in western Persia. These villages all produce there own version of the herati pattern (a floral motif encapsulated within a diamond of leaves). They are wll constructed and very good value and long lasting. Tuiserkan is another village in this area weaving above average quality for a Hamadan area piece. They always have an elongated medallion and saw-toth edging. The weavers of this village are very adept at dyeing producing colourful and well balanced rugs. The village of Vordoveh produce similar, though more simple in design pieces.

Husseinabad

The Herati design (Herati is a floral motif encapsulated within a diamond of leaves) is used in a large number of villages around Hamadan, the market town with a bazaar in which these village rugs are sold. Because these Herati are small and close together the design is called 'Mahi' meaning fish as the curled leaves look somewhat fish-like. The rugs, runners and large carpets from Husseinabad are very well constructed of good quality wool with a great sheen and are very hard-wearing.

Lilihan

South of Arak in southern Iran (Persia) there is a small area called the Kemereh, of which the main town is Lilihan, which is Armenian. Often the rugs from this area are lumped in with Hamadan village goods even though Hamadan is a long way from Lilihan. The rugs belong in style and weave to the Saruk group of villages, usually woven with the Persian knot. The design used again is very recognisable being a semi-geometric floral spray. Gorgeous madder reds faded to rose predominate though occasionally dark blue or ivory grounds are found. The quality is good, with quite a fine weave and a thick pile. These rugs are sometimes called Armenibaff, 'baff' meaning 'woven' and 'Armeni' meaning 'by Armenians'.

Kerman

The City of Kerman is in South central Iran is famous for its variety of famous floral designs especially those combining them with plain grounds. The motifs used were originally Khorani in origin. I.e. they were copies of the elaborate designs found on the bookbinding's of the Muslim Holy Book called the Koran. These floral carpets became the most popular carpets found in the great houses and palaces of Europe in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Embargoes placed by successive Persian Shahs forced the French to create their own hand-made copies in the specially opened Aubusson and Savonnerie factories. Nowaday's however, a good supply of these relatively inexpensive but spectacular carpets can be found in the West.

Wiss (Click for image)

The village of Wiss is in the south of the Arak area is around 100 miles south east of Hamadan in Iran. Here the carpets are of medium fineness usually with a thick high pile of durable wool yarn. Although quite close to Sarough it is really the only village in this area still weaving a geometric design, usually in a very distictive triple medallion pattern. There are also hooked motifs found at each end of the rugs as well as around the medallions and steep hooked pyramids reaching from the sides towards the centre.

Nain (Click for image)

Nain is a city in central Iran, east of Isphahan on the edge of the great desert between Isphahan and Yezd. It was a town famous for its fine textiles until their decline in the 1920's. Rug production has taken over as the main industry since then. It has rapidly become famous for its fine rugs which are nearly always either very pale beige in colouring or dark blue. Red, green and peach colours are also found more recently. The designs are nearly always outlined in silk and the islimi pattern (floral intertwining vines) predominate. These patterns are religious in origin having been used to decorate some of the grander mosques in the area such as the Shah mosque in Isphahan. They are one of the few sources of pale rugs from Iran.

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