Iranian Carpets

About Persian Kashan Rugs

Take a look at the photos of our Persian Kashan rugs. They all look quite similar in colour and design. Indeed the Kashan rug is the quintessential Persian Carpet. The intricate interwoven design, the rich jewel like colours are the basic ingredients for the library carpet on an Agatha Christie film set. Add in a few jewels and you'd surely have Aladdin's perfect utility vehicle.  Although Persian Kashan carpets look very similar. In reality each one is quite different. What counts is the fine-ness of the knot, the patina of the high quality wool and the subtlty of shading that makes one Kashan rug stand out from another. An interesting and popular variation on the red and blue theme is this lovely pistachio green and blue rug also from Kashan. Kashan Carpets of Iran A genuine Persian Kashan carpet will always be an item of great beauty and high status. Each rug carries with it the renowned legacy of the Old Persian carpet weaving tradition. Kashan is a major city in North Central Iran. It is a hot dry city that lies on the edge of the great salt desert. Carpet weaving in Kashan flourished in the Safavid era under the rule of Shah Abbas II. Abbas set up court in nearby Isfahan and under the patronage of the Shah and hordes of wealthy royal hangers-on the weaving workshops flourished. They produced ever more elaborate and magnificent carpets. After a long period of intellectual and cultural prosperity the empire declined as successive rulers spent their time on hedonistic pursuits. In 1722 Afghan invaders took control of the empire and the golden age of the Safavid dynasty was finished. After the Afghan invasion the carpet workshops all but ceased production. A few rugs were made, but Kashan became a major centre in the garment trade. In the late 19th century the market shifted and the local industry went from fine wool cloth to fine wool carpets. The carpet trade was revived to make rugs for the European and US market. Kashan is surrounded by desert and marginal land that does not provide a source of good wool. From roughly 1890 to 1930 the main source of wool was Manchester UK. That wool was fine soft garment wool that was processed in Manchester from Merino sheep. Carpets being woven today use Persian wool From the mid-19th to the early 20th century the finest quality rugs from Kashan were called Mohtashem  and said to be from the workshop of "Mohtashem". Today it is generally assumed that Mohtashem is an indication of fine Kerman workshop production rather than a firm attribution. However with the existence of some signed Mohtashem rugs it is certain that the workshop existed.&