Carpets - Herati Corner and Central Medallion
Size: 229x134 cm
Origin and time: Saneh, Second half of the 13th century
Carpet Museum of Iran, Tehran
No. of Raj: 50
A specimen from Saneh, one of the important cities of Kurdistan province of Iran. Rugs of this region are very delicate since they are mostly single-weft with a special symmetrical knot. Various motifs are customary in this region, including multi-medallion geometrical patterns but also centralized medallion designs on a plain field. The medallions are most of the time surrounded by a polygon as can be seen also in this example. The main colours used for these rugs are crimson-red, blue, black-blue, grey and ivory.
One of the designs used in Saneh is the boteh design, which, though deriving from the Farsi word for flower bud, palm leaf or cluster of leaves that can also include shapes that we see as a flame or a teardrop, is most widely called the paisley pattern because the Scottish town of Paisley imitated the pattern that was found on a Kashmir shawl with a boteh design. Thehasht-gol design, meaning eight flowers and formed by putting eight friend-and-foe paisleys around a central motif. originated in Saneh and was used also in other carpet weaving centres such as Khorassan.
This example of a Saneh rug presents a herati design, which has also been used commonly in this area, covering sometimes the entire carpet and the centralized medallions.
