The Persian carpet is an essential part of Persian art and culture. Carpet-weaving is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished manifestations of Persian culture and art, and dates back to ancient Persia.

The art of carpet weaving existed in Iran in ancient times, according to evidence and in the opinion of scientists. An example of such evidence is the 2500-year-old Pazyryk carpet dating back to 500 B.C., during the Achaemenid period (550–330 BCE).
The first documented evidence on the existence of Persian carpets came from Chinese texts dating back to the Sassanid period (224-641 CE).
Among the oldest pieces discovered are those found in Eastern Turkestan, dating back to the third to fifth centuries AD, and also some of the hand-weavings of the Seljuks of Asia Minor on exhibit in Ala’edin Mosque in Konya and Ashrafoghlu Mosque in Beyshehir, Turkey. These pieces attracted the attention of researchers earlier this century, and now they are kept in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul and the Mowlana Museum in Konya.
This art underwent many changes in various eras of the Iranian history to an extent that it passed an upward trend before the Islamic era until the Mongols invasion of Iran. After the invasion, the art began to grow again during the reign of the Mongol dynasties of Timurid and Ilkhanid.
With the passage of time, the material used in carpets, including wool and cotton, decay. Therefore archaeologists are not able to make any particularly useful discoveries during archaeological excavations, save for special circumstances.
Persian rugs have a wide variety of designs and styles, and trying to categorize them is a very difficult task.
The history of Persian carpets is divided into three eras of Pre-Islamic, Islamic, and Modern periods.
-------Material and quality
Wool is the most common material used in Persian carpets but cotton is frequently used for the foundation of city and workshop carpets. There is a wide variety in types of wool used for weaving. They include Kork wool, Manchester wool, and in some cases camel hair.
Silk carpets date back to at least the sixteenth century in Sabzavar and the Seventeenth century in Kashan and Yazd. Silk carpets are less common than wool carpets since silk is more expensive and less durable; they tend to increase in value with age. Due to their rarity, value and lack of durability, silk carpets are often displayed on the wall like tapestries rather than being used as floor coverings. Persian carpets can be divided into three groups; Qalii (sized anything greater than 6x4 feet), Qalicheh (meaning rug, sized 6x4 feet and smaller), and nomadic carpets known as Kilim, (including Zilu, meaning rough carpet).
------Production and export
Annually over 5.3 million square meters of hand made carpets are weaved in Iran. In 2008, Iran’s exports of hand-woven carpets was $420 million, 4 million square meters, to the U.S., Europe, Persian Gulf countries, Japan, China, and Russia.
In the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 19, 2008), 5.2 million square meters of hand woven carpets were produced which is predicted to touch 5.5 million square meters by the end of the current Iranian year.
There is an estimated population of 1.2 million weavers in Iran producing carpets for domestic markets and international export. In recent times Iranian carpets have come under fierce competition from other countries producing fakes and cheaper substitutes.
-------Persian carpet make up 40% of global markets
Iran’s share in global carpet markets reached 40 percent in 2007, achieving first place. The U.S., Europe, Persian Gulf states, China, Japan and Russia import around 4 million square meters of Iran’s hand-woven carpets annually. The total amount of exported Iranian hand-woven carpets reached 750 million dollars in 2007.
------World’s largest hand-woven carpet
Iranian weavers made the world’s largest hand-woven carpet that adorned the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan al Nahyan Mosque in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It took weavers 2 years to make the 2.2-billion-knot, 5,625.15-square-meter, carpet.
------Hand-made vs. machine-made
Unfortunately many manufacturers are now opting for machine-made carpets to increase production, and hand-woven rugs remain first choice among art lovers alone throughout the planet.
The price of machine-made carpets is less in comparison to hand made ones and this has caused a decrease in hand-woven carpet production in Iran.
NK/MG/MRK END MN