In the city of Kashan, the record of weaving brocade and velvet textiles as well as gold-embroidered materials and fine-knotted rugs reach back to the era of the Safavid dynasty. At that time, each piece was exemplified for the talent shown in dyeing and weaving and was a formidable example of craftsmanship. In those days, carpet weaving in Kashan reached its highest peak and the talented artists left many valuable samples of their masterpieces (of which a certain number occupy famous museums around the world). One of these aforementioned kashan rugs is the famous “hunting scene” carpet, which can be admired in the museum of Vienna.
The highest degree in the art of weaving, dyeing, and designing carpets in the world is also reflected in the gold-embroidered “Polonaise” carpets. After this period of splendor, the art of carpet and textile weaving in both Kashan and the other areas began to decline. Kashan produced carpets of the highest artistic craftsmanship over several centuries. Specifically, those which were produced many years ago, are beautiful and desirable resulting in many carpet lovers ardently wishing to obtain possess them.
Not long ago, most of the Kashan rugs were woven with merinos wool, but because of its high cost, the usage of this wool was limited. At present the wool needed in Kashan and its dependencies is provided from internal sources such as Khorasan, Kermanshahan, and Tehran. Formerly, “Kork” and fine silk carpets were produced in Kashan but Ghom is the current leader in producing rugs of this category.
Fast-colored, double-weft, and Senneh knotted rugs and carpets have laquer-red, dark blue, turquoise blue, off-white beige, brown, and pistachio green background. All formats are common (with most falling into the 1.5 by 2.2 meters and larger sizes) with the exception of runners.
Shah-Abbasi medallion and corner, overall Shah-Abbasi, overall vases, candelabra medallion, tree with mehrab, portrait, panorama, and geometrical Josheghan designs are those mostly woven in Kashan. Warps and wefts are of finely spun cotton. The Carpets are dense with the quality of the carpets ranging from fine to very fine (up to 1,000,000 knots per square meter). Different kinds of carpets and rugs resembling those of Kashan are woven in the dependencies and villages such as Nushabad, Aran, Fin, Natanz, Ghamsar, and Ravand (with the most popular coming from Natanz and Ghamsar).
Read our other blog posts on Kashan Rugs:
