Bidjar Rugs & Carpets

Bidjar is a town in northwestern Kurdistan Province, in northwestern Persia, whose population is entirely Kurdish in ethnicity. The Bidjar weaving district comprises the town itself and about forty villages within a radius of thirty miles. The region is agricultural and carpet weaving is the only art/craft practiced.

Bidjar carpet weaving seems to have developed as a commercial venture around the mid-nineteenth century. The town is roughly 150 miles NW of Hamadan, but there is no evidence that Hamadan merchants, weavers or designers had a role in the creation of the Bidjar carpet. The paramount chiefs of Kurdistan were, and still mostly are, Turks, and they may have played a part through their patronage in the origins of Bidjar weaving.

For the nineteenth and early 20th centuries the warp was wool, and the wefts triple, with two thick woolen wefts running straight between warp levels and bound by a thinner, sinuous third weft. All the best antique Bidjar rugs share this unusual structure. At the turn of the 20th century cotton replaced the wool warps. The wefts are extremely compacted in the weaving process and this makes for a very heavy, firm, almost board-like texture. Bidjars are the densest and heaviest of all antique oriental carpets per unit area. [...]

Bidjar is a town in northwestern Kurdistan Province, in northwestern Persia, whose population is entirely Kurdish in ethnicity. The Bidjar weaving district comprises the town itself and about forty villages within a radius of thirty miles. The region is agricultural and carpet weaving is the only art/craft practiced.

Bidjar carpet weaving seems to have developed as a commercial venture around the mid-nineteenth century. The town is roughly 150 miles NW of Hamadan, but there is no evidence that Hamadan merchants, weavers or designers had a role in the creation of the Bidjar carpet. The paramount chiefs of Kurdistan were, and still mostly are, Turks, and they may have played a part through their patronage in the origins of Bidjar weaving.

For the nineteenth and early 20th centuries the warp was wool, and the wefts triple, with two thick woolen wefts running straight between warp levels and bound by a thinner, sinuous third weft. All the best antique Bidjar rugs share this unusual structure. At the turn of the 20th century cotton replaced the wool warps. The wefts are extremely compacted in the weaving process and this makes for a very heavy, firm, almost board-like texture. Bidjars are the densest and heaviest of all antique oriental carpets per unit area. The symmetrically knotted, relatively short pile is of high quality local wool, resilient and firm, and it sticks straight up. The pile is thoroughly compacted and there is plenty of wool to take even the heaviest of traffic. They are "iron rugs."

The women weavers work on vertical, fixed warp looms, although it is hard to imagine sitting on a plank twenty feet off the ground working on a large carpet. Perhaps roller looms were used on the very largest rugs. There were, at the peak in the 1920s, about 1000 looms in the area, most in family houses, some in larger workshops weaving expansive carpets.

There are no independent designers in Bidjar and the carpets generally favor a relatively small pool of patterns. In the nineteenth century, many pieces were woven with open fields in red or dark blue, with tall lozenge medallions filled with flowers and bold arabesque corners. This style is popular on kellegi (gallery) format carpets. Layered Herati all over pattern fields are another popular Bidjar design. The medallions, often Herati-filled, will have pendants in the shape of anchors. The borders are often in the turtle palmette style. There will usually be a plain outermost stripe.
Some of the more interesting Bidjar rugs come from the neighboring villages. Halvai weaves very fine, pliable rugs, almost never room size rugs, with European-inspired acanthus scroll borders and very detailed Herati patterns. These are rare and prized as the best rugs of the area. Turkentepeh village often employ a weeping willow (Bid Majnun) and cypress pattern.

Bidjar dyes are excellent and natural, and there is no better dark blue anywhere in Persia. Marigold yellow, a warm red tending toward orange, ivory, and an attractive sky blue are among the other noteworthy hues. Corrosive brown black or charcoal grey is occasionally used as a field tone to allow the colored pattern to stand in relief.

A few observations are useful:

1. The all over Garrus design of bold, red, angular split arabesques on a navy ground is found primarily on large antique rugs, some approaching 30 feet in length, often in conjunction with cloud band and bow-tied ribbon pattern borders, is not from the namesake village. It is a town weave. These have always been among the most iconic and desirable of antique Bidjar rugs. The Garrus design works best on large pieces, and it looks cut off and crowded on scatters.

2. The trade term "Kurd Bidjar" is a misnomer. All Bidjar area rugs are Kurdish. "Village Bidjar" is a better term. They have rustic, more geometric, often Caucasian influenced designs, less depressed alternate warps and a generally more informal look. The wool and dyes are the same as on the town carpets. The wearability is identical to town weaves. They are in scatter or long rug formats.

3. The "wagireh" or sampler rug is common in the area. It contains a number of field and border pattern sections in order for the end users to commission custom rugs. Bidjar employs the sampler technique more than any other area, even Sultanabad. From these partial elements a weaver can create a whole carpet. Garrus split arabesque design samplers are among the most desirable. Wagirehs are eminently collectible and are of particular interest to those interested in the actual production of Bidjar rugs.

Antique rugs from Bidjar are totally individual, authentic Persian rugs and just its sheer size and strength can give any interior design a sense of grandeur. They are the "real thing". For over 150 years Bidjars have gone their own way and have been better for it. A Bidjar on the floor shows that the owner has a real appreciation for real rugs.