From: Tariq Habib Mirza mannam@brain.net.pk Mannam Carpets Dear Barry This is apropos of Russell B.'s query: New Persian Carpets - Qum, Kum, Gum. In the late 50's and early 60's we were regularly buying in Qum, wool rugs with silk outlines, wool rugs with silk motifs, silk ground rugs with wool motifs and all silk rugs. So the use of silk in a big way seems to have started well before 1961. At that time I very rarely saw a Qum with 20x20 kpi. Today 26x26 is pretty common and many higher knot count pieces coming into Pakistan seem to be the handiwork of half baked weavers/designers. 900 kpsi used to be (occasionally) Uncle Habibian's and, of course, Aghai Serafian's preserve, even his son Sadiq rarely attempted it. Regards and best wishes |
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