Study Two Antique Persian Carpets

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For millennia carpetmaking has been central to the culture of Persia, today known as Iran. Nomadic tribes hand-knotted rugs to adorn and insulate their tents. The imagery they developed, now associated with classical styles — walled gardens with frolicking animals — probably refers to the heavenly paradise described in Zoroastrian scripture and may even hark back to early mythology.

Among the oldest and most sought-after examples are those made during the reign of the Safavid monarch Shah Abbas (1587-1629), who restored Persia to greatness after a tumultuous era of civil war and foreign invasion. Despotic but farsighted, Abbas set up global trade links between Asia and Europe, strengthening Persia’s economic and territorial security. He also supported such arts as carpet making, miniature painting, calligraphy and ceramics at his sumptuous court in Isfahan, cultivating an image of Persia as a land of aesthetic splendor that he deployed to gain diplomatic and trade advantage. European aristocrats and wealthy merchants came to covet the country’s luxury goods, and over the years, the designs of Persian rugs evolved to suit the tastes and requirements of the Western export market.

A Primer for Persians

The Persian Empire once extended from the Tigris to the Indus, so the term Persian carpet can encompass textile production by a vast array of peoples. Most collectors focus on a particular area, like Turkmen tribals, or a period, like Safavid. To learn about the various types of Persians, Mary Jo Otsea, the director of Oriental and European carpets at Sotheby’s New York, suggests studying catalogues and visiting exhibitions, dealers and auction houses. At the auction houses, she notes, you can look at and touch all the rugs and even stand on them. You can also do this at a gallery, but there you need to ask for the rugs to be unrolled, which for those not yet ready to buy, can be intimidating. Dealers will let you take rugs home and live with them for a while before you finalize your purchase. You pay for the privilege, though, since retailers’ rugs are generally more expensive than those at auction.

Once you know what you like, Otsea suggests you buy the best that you can afford. The four chief determinants of quality are
·Design
·Color
·Condition
·Provenance

What about knot count? "It’s meaningless, when it comes to true quality," says James French, of Beauvais Carpets. "Each type of rug is woven differently. What is important is to select a rug that is expressive of its period."

If you develop a taste for the finest, don’t despair, says Otsea. "Many textile connoisseurs have built important collections of historical fragments."

View the photo gallery to explore two antique Persian carpets up close.

"Antique Persian Carpets" originally appeared in the October 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2009 Table of Contents.