Kashan Rugs & Carpets

Kashan is located in central Persia and because of its relatively low elevation, it is extremely hot in the summer. The mud-brick houses are built down to capture the coolness rather than up. The town is situated in a rather drab and dry plain. No worse environment could be a home for the artistically creative mind. But Kashan has had at least two claims to fame in Persian art history. The ceramic craft of the 12th and 13th centuries in both tiles and wares made the town famous. Tiles are still called "kashi" in Farsi in recognition of the Kashan origin of the best. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries silks of Kashan origin, both brocades and velvets, were noted by European travelers. Rugs were also woven there and the 16th-century silk hunting carpets in Boston and Vienna (museums), as well as the antique small silk Kashans, usually in medallion designs, are cited everywhere as evidence of the artistic and technical prowess of the town. The extremely fine wool rugs of the "Salting" group, most of which found their way to Turkey, are also attributed to Kashan. Similarly, the earliest "Polonaise" silk and metal thread rugs may be Kashan creations.

But Kashan rug weaving ceased for centuries, and it was only revived in the 1880s by Hajji Mollah Hassan, the legendary ‘Mohtasham the Elder’ who was an importer of English cloth and yarn. Having an oversupply of Manchester spun Australian merino yarn, he set his wife, originally from Sultanabad, to weaving a rug. It turned out spectacular, with a velvety, low pile, angular medallion and corners pattern, and a very fine weave. More followed, although by 1890 there were still only three looms in the town. Weaving soon exploded in Kashan and the surrounding villages and by 1900 there were over a thousand looms in Kashan, weaving room size and scatter rugs alike. [...]

Kashan is located in central Persia and because of its relatively low elevation, it is extremely hot in the summer. The mud-brick houses are built down to capture the coolness rather than up. The town is situated in a rather drab and dry plain. No worse environment could be a home for the artistically creative mind. But Kashan has had at least two claims to fame in Persian art history. The ceramic craft of the 12th and 13th centuries in both tiles and wares made the town famous. Tiles are still called "kashi" in Farsi in recognition of the Kashan origin of the best. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries silks of Kashan origin, both brocades and velvets, were noted by European travelers. Rugs were also woven there and the 16th-century silk hunting carpets in Boston and Vienna (museums), as well as the antique small silk Kashans, usually in medallion designs, are cited everywhere as evidence of the artistic and technical prowess of the town. The extremely fine wool rugs of the "Salting" group, most of which found their way to Turkey, are also attributed to Kashan. Similarly, the earliest "Polonaise" silk and metal thread rugs may be Kashan creations.

But Kashan rug weaving ceased for centuries, and it was only revived in the 1880s by Hajji Mollah Hassan, the legendary ‘Mohtasham the Elder’ who was an importer of English cloth and yarn. Having an oversupply of Manchester spun Australian merino yarn, he set his wife, originally from Sultanabad, to weaving a rug. It turned out spectacular, with a velvety, low pile, angular medallion and corners pattern, and a very fine weave. More followed, although by 1890 there were still only three looms in the town. Weaving soon exploded in Kashan and the surrounding villages and by 1900 there were over a thousand looms in Kashan, weaving room size and scatter rugs alike.

Mohtasham's son, ‘Mohtasham the Younger’ took over and guided the operation into the 1920s. Ateshoghlu and Hajji Yehuda are among the other important master weavers of the period. Not all used Manchester wool, however. Silk rugs of exceptional quality were woven during this period as well.

The "American" style Sarouk influenced rug weaving all over (and beyond) Persia and Kashan were no exception. Rich, dark burgundy ground carpets with detached floral sprays and Manchester wool were woven in Kashan in the 1920s. The Depression put an end to the use of imported wool and domestic wool has been used ever since.

Kashan designers have settled on Shah Abbas style palmettes, curling arabesques, and lancet leaves as their major decorative idea. Sometimes there are directional, scenic rugs with animals, sometimes prayer niche layouts, sometimes open fields with medallions and corners. The earliest rug designs are somewhat angular in a rustic manner since no scale paper cartoons were available. Kashan developed a design school to satisfy the rapidly burgeoning industry and by 1905 or so, the designs are properly curvilinear. The pendant medallion and corners pattern is far and away the most popular used layout. Kashan designers like well-covered fields and borders, and plain, open grounds in ivory, red, or navy are uncommon. Pictorial vignettes sometimes fill the central medallions. Vases, jardinieres, bouquets, and individual floral elements taken from classical Persian rug sources are also found. But the medallion and corners pattern thoroughly dominates from the antique Kashans of the 1890s until today.

The weave of Kashans is close, with asymmetric knots on an all-cotton foundation. Some very early pieces have silk warps and silk selvages. The knot count runs about 200-275 per square inch. The wool is now often milled in Persian factories and a more velvety surface approximating the antique pieces results. A dry wool with a lower knot count characterizes Arun rugs, and these have markedly poorer wearing quality. The weaving is done in houses ever since Mohtasham's day, and the local merchants work on a cottage industry putting-out system. A good antique Kashan may have taken up to two years to weave.

The dyes of antique pieces are almost always natural with indigo for the blues and madder for the reds. In the c. 1900 period, some obnoxious synthetic orange and red of European origin appears. Most of the post-1930 carpets employ synthetics. The overall colorific effect is rich and jewel tone, and this is especially true on the rugs from the village of Natanz. Kashan dyers have never mastered light palettes the way Kerman artisans have, and the carpets show the difference, The richer palette may constrain the sense of novelty among the local designers.

Antique Kashans of the early period are rare and few are found in top condition because of the soft wool. These carpets are true find and are priced accordingly. Kashans are prized by the domestic market and until the embargo, many found their way back to Iran.