The art of carpet weaving in Iran has its origins more than 2500 years ago. Originally became Persian carpets woven out of necessity to cover the floors of nomadic tribes and protect them from cold and damp. The natural evolution of the skill and craft in the making of these works of art has been passed down from generation to generation over the centuries, in times of peace, invasion and war. As international trade developed, so did the variety of patterns and designs.

Much of the development of Persian carpets is related to the different rulers of the country over time. When Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C. When he conquered Babylon in XNUMX BC, he was struck by its splendor and is credited by many historians with introducing the art of carpet making to Persia. It is said that the tomb of Cyrus, buried at Pasargadae near Persepolis, was covered with costly carpets.

It is very likely that Persian nomads were making at least very simple designs for their own homes well before his time. For this purpose they supplied their herds of sheep and goats with high-quality and durable wool. In 1949, Russian archaeologists discovered the oldest known knotted carpet in the Pazyryk Valley in Siberia's Altai Mountains. The 5th century B.C. The Pazyryk carpet, which dates back to around XNUMX BC, is a fine example of the craftsmanship that has been developed and refined over the centuries. The carpet survived for more than two millennia in the frozen tombs of Scythian nobles and is now the showpiece of the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad (St. Petersburg).

The complexity of this rug suggests that even at this early stage, the art of rug weaving went far beyond simple rugs designed for practical purposes. The first documented evidence for the existence of carpets comes from Chinese texts dating back to the Sassanid dynasty (AD 224-641). In AD 628, Emperor Heraclius brought back a variety of carpets from the conquest of the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon. The Arabs also conquered Ctesiphon in AD 637, and the booty they brought with them is said to have included many carpets, including the famous garden carpet “Spring of Khosro”.

This carpet has gone down in history as the most valuable carpet of all time. It was made during the reign of Khosro I (AD 531 – 579) and was a huge carpet, measuring 400′ x 100′ and weighing several tons. Historians describe the silk carpet as follows: “The border was a magnificent flower bed of blue, red, white, yellow and green stones; in the background the color of the earth was imitated with gold; clear stones like crystals gave the illusion of water; the plants were formed of silk and the fruits of colored stones”.

It is said that the king walked the carpet in winter to remember the beauty of spring. However, when the Arabs invaded, they cut the magnificent carpet into many pieces and sold each piece separately.Picture of the Pazyryk carpetThe center piece of the Ardabil carpetThe Pazyryk carpet (left) and the Ardabil carpet (right). After the period of rule of the Arab caliphates, a Turkic tribe named Seljok after its founder conquered Persia. Her reign (1038 – 1194 AD) was of great importance for the history of Persian carpets. The Seljuk women were skilled carpet weavers using Turkish knots.

In the provinces of Azerbaijan and Hamadan, where the Seljuk influence was strongest and longest, the Turkish knot is used to this day.
The conquest and domination of Persia by the Mongols (1220-1449) was brutal at first. However, they soon came under the influence of the Persians.

The palace of Tabriz, owned by the Ilkhan leader Ghazan Khan (1295-1304), had paved floors covered with rich carpets. The Mongol ruler Shah Rokh (1409 - 1446) contributed to the reconstruction of many buildings destroyed by the Mongols and encouraged all artistic activities in the region. Of the Persian carpet reached its peak during the reign of the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century AD. About 1500 copies are preserved in various museums and private collections worldwide. During the reign of Shah Abbas (1587-1629), trade and crafts flourished in Persia.

Shah Abbas promoted contacts and trade with Europe and transformed his new capital Isfahan into one of the most magnificent cities in Persia. He also established carpet workshops, where skilled designers and craftsmen produced magnificent specimens. Most of these rugs were made of silk and further decorated with gold and silver threads. Two of the best-known Safavid-era carpets, dated to 1539, come from the Ardabil Mosque. Many experts believe that these rugs represent the pinnacle of rug design.

The larger of the two carpets is now a showpiece in London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

The court period of Persian carpetIt ended with the Afghan invasion of 1722. The Afghans destroyed Isfahan, but their rule was short-lived, and in 1736 a young Khorasan chief, Nader Khan, became the Shah of Persia. Throughout his reign, all the country's armed forces were deployed in campaigns against the Afghans, the Turks and the Russians. No carpets of great value were made during this period and in the turbulent years after his death in 1747; only nomads and craftsmen in small villages continued the tradition of their craft.

In the last quarter of the 19th century and during the reign of the Qajar, trade and crafts regained importance. Carpet manufacture flourished again and traders from Tabriz exported carpets to Europe via Istanbul. Towards the end of the 19th century, some European and American companies even settled in Persia and organized handicraft production for western markets. This development gave rise to new designs that catered to western tastes. An example of this is the Manchester-based German company Ziegler & Co., which went to Iran to develop new carpets for export.

Her work with the Iranian master weavers led to the development of rugs suited to Western interiors, such as B. the Ziegler carpet, which is one of the most popular carpets in production today.

Today, carpet weaving is by far the most widespread handicraft in Iran.

Persian carpets are known for their richness of colour, variety of spectacular artistic patterns and the quality of their design. A part of palaces, famous buildings, mansions and museums all over the world Persian carpet among the most valuable possessions.

How to recognize a Persian rug as real - The difference between fake and real Persian rugs

A real Persian carpet is a valuable possession. These sumptuous rugs can be found in homes and offices around the world. Just knowing they were hand knotted adds even more value to these works of art.

However, these are not the only rugs you can find today. In addition to hand-knotted carpets, there are also machine-made examples.

With so many machine made rugs and Persian looking rugs available on the market today, it can be difficult to tell if the rug you are looking at is real Persian or just looks Persian.

Sometimes the similarities are so great, especially when they are hand-knotted, that it is almost impossible to tell them apart without close inspection.

Here are a few things to look for in order to determine if a particular Persian rug is authentic.

Find out where the carpet was made

Only rugs made in the Middle East region of Iran can be called genuine Persian rugs. You will see that all these rugs are always made by hand. Machine-made carpets do not come from these regions. They are mostly made in the US and a few countries in Europe.

Besides the obvious machine-made rugs, there are other types of hand-knotted rugs made in Pakistan, India, China and some other oriental countries.

These types of hand-knotted rugs are beautiful in their own way, but it is important to note that if the rug was not made in Iran, it is not a genuine Persian rug.

Check if it is hand tufted or hand knotted

Genuine hand-knotted rugs are made by skilled weavers who spend hours painstakingly and meticulously hand-knotting each knot.

Hand-tufted rugs, on the other hand, are made using a tufting gun that punches a pattern into a canvas stretched behind a template. These rugs look good on the surface, but have several disadvantages.

Making these rugs does not require any special skills. Also, hand tufted rugs are much weaker and have a lifespan of around 7 years.

To determine if a rug is hand-knotted or hand-tufted, turn it over and examine the underside. With a real Persian rug, you should be able to see each knot clearly.

Genuine Persian rugs are a worthwhile investment and knowing how to tell the real from the fakes can help you ensure that the piece you are acquiring is worth it.

Check the front and back of the carpet

It is very rare to find a handmade rug that has a perfect pattern on both the front and back. Because these rugs are woven by hand on very basic wooden looms, they are bound to have a few imperfections.

These imperfections are to be expected and in no way diminish the value of the rug. Machine-made rugs, on the other hand, are always perfect on both the front and back.

Machine-made rugs also have a type of netting that covers the underside of the rug. It's not very easy to see, but it's there.

Genuine Persian carpets always have a soft underside

It's amazing how much the underside of a rug can tell you about whether it's a real Persian rug or not. For one thing, the presence or absence of imperfections in the knots can tell a lot about whether the rug was hand-knotted or machine-made.

Second, the texture and type of backing can also be very revealing. Real Persian carpets are always hand-knotted. The process is designed so that the pattern on the bottom of the rug matches the pattern on the top of the rug.

There is no additional pad on the underside. The lack of any kind of back coating results in a soft underside.

This is unlike machine-made rugs, where the top pile of the rug is made of synthetic materials and the bottom has a rigid plastic backing that holds the rug together.

The synthetic materials and adhesives used in these rugs not only detract from the rugs appearance but can also be toxic and cause allergic reactions.

Note the fringes

On authentic Persian rugs, the fringes are part of the rug itself. They are created during the weaving process and look like an extension of the rug's body.

With machine-made rugs, the fringes are not created during the manufacturing process.

Rather, they are sewn onto the carpet after the carpet has been completed. Take a closer look at where the fringes connect to the rug body.

If you can see that the fringes have been sewn onto the rug, you know the rug is fake.

Check the material used

Only natural materials such as wool, cotton and silk are used for genuine Persian carpets. There are no exceptions. Wool is the most commonly used material. 

Hand-knotted wool rugs are antibacterial, hypoallergenic and flame retardant. They are valuable treasures that, with proper care and maintenance, will remain beautiful for generations.

A carpet made of a synthetic material is definitely not authentic.

Check the color

The weavers of genuine Persian carpets create their own color from various plant and animal materials found in nature. Thanks to years of experience, they have mastered the art of creating colorful dyes that stick firmly to materials. 

These colorfast dyes will not bleed into each other or through the carpet.

To test whether a rug is colorfast or not, you can place a damp cloth on a corner of the rug and leave it there for a few hours. When you lift the cloth, check if the colors of the carpet have transferred to the cloth.

If the cloth is colorless, this is an indication that vegetable dyes were used in the rug, which means that it is more likely to be a genuine Persian rug. 

If the colors of the carpet have transferred to the damp cloth, it is definitely an imitation. Imitations use synthetic dyes or ink that bleed instantly when in contact with water or oil.

Indian and Pakistani carpets have dull, dark colors

Real Persian carpets have bright colors

If you are interested in learning more about Persian rugs, please visit our rug encyclopedia and view our huge gallery of authentic Persian rugs.

How authentic Persian rugs are made

In this video we dive deep into the anatomy and construction of authentic Persian rugs. We explain the main components that make up a Persian rug and go into detail on each component. We'll cover the basics: the warp and weft, the knots and pile, the types of knots, the fringe, the fringes, and more.

Carpet Types by Province & Country of Origin
Iran is by far the largest manufacturer of oriental carpets with the highest quality carpets.
Persian carpets from Iran have over 80 cultural areas for the production of carpets. Some notable regions or cities are: Koliai, Qom, Moud, Afshar, Heriz, Hamadan, Kashan, Bakhtiar, Shiraz, Abadeh, Senneh, Bijar, Mashhad, Kerman, Ardebil, Tabriz, Nahavand, Gabbeh,
Nain, Ghashghai, Isfahan
Other well-known categories of oriental carpets are
Baluch carpets
Chinese carpets
Turkmen carpets
Pakistani carpets
Caucasian carpets
Afghan carpets
Indian carpets