Isphahan city was Iranian capital in Safavid era, whose ancient precious monuments still remains, which belong to long past. In monument architectures that are still as same as past, some flower-designed turquoise ceramics are used, which is the main feature of the Safavid era, just like patterns existing on rugs that are weaved in workshops dependent on Safavid court.
The rugs of this city still maintain the subtelty and beauty of the weaved ones in Safavid era. The rugs in the Safavid era which were weaved in workshop of the court, were for the king and the noble families, or were used as an offer from Iranian embassy to all over the world. After Safavid fall, and despite of the historical events passed in the city, the weaving art was still current. The mass production of rugs in isphahan restarted after the war, grateful to Kashani and Tabrizi traders who exploited rural workforce to weave rugs.
In Isphahan, the rugs are weaved in various sizes. Even in some exceptional dimensions and also dual and pair rugs were common. The knot in Isphahani rugs is asymmetrical and have a high density, and are weaved by the wool from Kermanshah or imported from Australia. The warp material is cotton yarn and is stamped with two wefts weaved strictly among wates in order to make the rugs compact. The tight weft is white while loose one is azure which is observed in the backside of the rugs. The silk rugs were common as well, in which the thin silk strands were used for weaving and the thick ones used as the warp. In this case, the warps and the wefts can be natural white, such as “7 colors” that means it is silk with 7 various colors’ the weavers should pay a lot attention while cutting to do so shortly. Isphahani rugs are rarely found with less than 14 colors and 3 specific colors are used in Isphahani rugs, the azure blue, cream and dull red, which are the main characteristics of Isphahani rugs.
The decorative patterns are arepresentative of Safavid designs which are updated and reviewed and revised by skillful masters working in the city workshops such as “Sirfian” and “Sarraf Mamuri” and turned into the today form and a new sight is added to them. The scheme which was always useful, is the medallion design,in the center of which there is a big circle and sun-like pattern. Another common composition is the roses and palmette attached to the beautiful arabesques on a bright background.
Also, among Isphahani rugs, there are a lot of illustrated ones that are manufactured to be distributed in the national markets’ it’s a specific sort of Iranian rug whose pattern is weaved according to the pictures illustrating Iranian myth, which is an inspiring factor in modern artistic compositions. The margins are plentiful and often based on classic designs accompanying epigraph and palmette patterns.
Weaving the rugs similar to the Isphahani ones are done in some smaller center in this regions. For example, we can name Ardestan in the north of Isphahan. Also, Natanz and a village in proximity called Bedrud, in which there are some rugs weaved similar to Kashan samples. In the southwest of Isphahan in the Arak pathway, we notice Najafabad which the main center of the production in this field. Najafabad started its activities since just few years had passed from distributing Isphahan rugs in the national market. In the Najabad rugs, the designs and colors and subtelty of Isphahani rugs are imitated.
Also, we can observe samples with classic Iranian designs such as central circular medallion, corners, and branched flower desings in the crowded background, in the Najafabad rugs.. The scheme in the Najafabad rugs are less subtle and simpler compared to Isphahani ones, and these najafabadi rugs were impressed by Bakhtiari weaving methods, somehow it demonstrates dark colors.
Among Isphahani weaver masters, we can name “Issa Bahadori” who is born in “Barchlu” “near “Hamedan” but resided then in Isphahan; we can name some famous apprentices of this master : “Mahmud Farshchian” and “Qolam Ali Haqiqi” who accompanied and supervised on designing and weaving the carpet illustrating the leaders of 40 countries. The Isphahani masters could illustrate remarkable miniature patterns on rugs innovatively. Among them we can name “Hosseing Mossaverolmolki”, “Ahmad Arjang” , “Jadar Rashtian” , “Abbas Karbasian” , “Akbar Mehdii” and “Sirfian”.
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