Where Persian rugs come from

Where Persian rugs come from

Persian rug is a broad label. What actually determines the look, the knot count and the price is the town or the tribe it came from. These are the four groups worth knowing before you buy.
Deep red medallion rug in a modern living room

Tabriz and the north-west

Tabriz has been a weaving city for six centuries and it shows in the discipline of the work. Designs are drawn on paper first, knot counts run high, and the symmetry is near-perfect. Heriz and Bijar come from the same region with a heavier, chunkier build that wears extremely well underfoot.
Persian rug in a classical interior with antique furniture

Kashan and Isfahan

Central Persia produced the court carpets that made the Persian rug famous. Expect a central medallion, dense floral fields, deep madder red and indigo, and on the finest Isfahan pieces silk highlights worked into a wool pile. These are the rugs people picture when they hear the word Persian.
Red rug in a wood-panelled study

Kerman and the south

Southern weaving leans lighter. Ivory and rose grounds, more open space in the field, and curvilinear drawing rather than dense geometry. Kerman rugs suit rooms where a dark red carpet would dominate, and they have long been the easiest Persian style to place in a modern interior.
Vintage multicolour rug in a modern room

The tribal looms

Tribal rugs are woven from memory rather than a drawn cartoon, often on a portable horizontal loom. The drawing is geometric, the proportions wander, and no two are alike. Collectors pay for exactly the irregularity that a workshop would treat as a fault. Afghan Turkmen pieces with repeating guls belong to this group.