This is a Persian workshop rug
in the style of Serafian. I recently had the
chance to acquire the collection of an old friend
who has decided to return to his home in Iran. He
was unclear about attributing this beautiful Isphahan Carpet to the
Serafian workshop. This rug is fine but has the
typical Isphahan back.
Comparing it with published examples of Serafian
Isphahans this certainly looks like those pieces
attributed to the second generation Serafian
workshop but may come from one of the extremely
skillful lesser known workshops.
The design is accentuated by an
overlay of spiral tendrils with arabesque
leaves. In my studies of classical carpets
I have seen over and over that most carpet
designs come from the east. No matter what I look
for it seems to be found earliest in Central Asia
or China. The exception is the Arabesque. These
leaves seem to be from the west in the areas
closest to the Mediterranean. I suspect that this
design came east with the spread of Islam. I
mention the Arabesque leaves because the focal
point of this piece is the extremely graceful and
balanced Islimis.
576 per square inch
(8928 per square decimeter)
Isphahan Carpet.
Isphahan, Persia. The latter part of the Pahlavid
dynasty (Post W.W.II),
Size: 3 foot 6 inch by
5 foot 2 inch.
Structure: Asymmetrical knot open to the
left. 24 knots per horizontal inch and 24
knots per vertical inch. 576 per square inch
(8928 per square decimeter)
This rug is very fine with a
knot count of 576 per square inch (8928 per
square decimeter).
There is a fine line between
City Carpets and Workshop Carpets. A simple trick
for non-experts to recognize the difference is to
look at the corners. This carpet has perfectly
resolved corners so it is obviously the product
of a workshop with strict adherence to the
cartoon. City Carpets will not generally show the
same meticulous attention to detail that we
expect in Workshop Carpets
