Iran Kashan Carpet

Hand-knotted rug, pure wool, vegetable dyes, size: 206cmX141cm. Kashan carpets are among the best in Iran because of the quality of their wool, their extremely tight knotting and the beauty of their colors and designs. The craftsmanship was interrupted in Kashan between the invasion of the Afghans (1722) and the end of the nineteenth century. The revival of carpet production was made with carpets with a high quality wool. The first copies of this cover are called Kashan Motashemi, presumably after the name of a craftsman. The bottom is almost always adorned with a central medallion which ends at the top and bottom by two floral crowns. On the rest of the background intertwine flowers and foliage. The border is most often decorated with the herald motif for the central band and rosettes for the secondary bands. Some copies are subject and knotted silk. The background of Kashans is often brick red or dark blue. A blue background rug often has a medallion and red borders and vice versa. The panj rang ("five colors") is knotted only with yarns of five colors. The background is usually ivory and the patterns in various shades of beige, gray and azure. Kashan (in Persian: كاشان), also spelled Kashan in French, is a city in Iran between Tehran and Isfahan. In the Middle Ages, the city is renowned for its ceramic workshops. Indeed, the name of the city finds its origin in the Persian name designating the ceramic tile, kashi. Kashan is the first of the great oases that lie along the road between Qom and Kerman, in the deserts of central Iran, and its attraction is mainly due to the contrast between the vast expanses of deserts and the greenery of well-kept oases. In the eleventh century, Sultan Malik Shah I of the Seljuk dynasty built a fortress whose walls are still visible today in the center of the city.