page_title: Persian carpet
section_title: Safavid "Vase technique" carpets from Kirmān
hierarchical_section_title: Persian carpet / History / The Safavid Period (1501–1732) / Safavid "Vase technique" carpets from Kirmān
caption_attribution_description: English: Tiled Arch with Hunting Scenes. Late 17th century, Isfahan/Iran; faience, glazed colours applied in cuerda seca technique H 132 cm; W 346 cm
context_page_description: A Persian carpet or Persian rug, also known as Iranian carpet, is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in Iran, for home use, local sale, and export. Carpet weaving is an essential part of Persian culture and Iranian art. Within the group of Oriental rugs produced by the countries of the "rug belt", the Persian carpet stands out by the variety and elaborateness of its manifold designs.
  Persian carpets and rugs of various types were woven in parallel by nomadic tribes, in village and town workshops, and by royal court manufactories alike. As such, they represent miscellaneous, simultaneous lines of tradition, and reflect the history of Iran and its various peoples. The carpets woven in the Safavid court manufactories of Isfahan during the sixteenth century are famous for their elaborate colours and artistical design, and are treasured in museums and private collections all over the world today. Their patterns and designs have set an artistic tradition for court manufactories which was kept alive during the entire duration of the Persian Empire up to the last royal dynasty of Iran.
context_section_description: A distinct group of Safavid carpets can be attributed to the region of Kirmān in southern Persia. May H. Beattie identified these carpets by their common structure: Seven different types of carpets were identified: Garden carpets (depicting formal gardens and water channels); carpets with centralized designs, characterized by a large medallion; multiple-medaillon designs with offset medaillons and compartment repeats; directional designs with the arrangements of little scenes used as individual motifs; sickle-leaf designs where long, curved, serrated and sometimes compound leaves dominate the field; arabesque; and lattice designs. Their distinctive structure consists of asymmetric knots; the cotton warps are depressed, and there are three wefts. The first and third weft are made of wool, and lie hidden in the center of the carpet. The middle weft is of silk or cotton, and passes from the back to the front. When the carpets are worn, this third weft evokes a characteristic, "tram line" effect.
  The best known "vase technique" carpets from Kirmān are those of the so-called "Sanguszko group", named after the House of Sanguszko, whose collection has the most outstanding example. The medallion-and-corner design is similar to other 16th century Safavid carpets, but the colours and style of drawing are distinct. In the central medallion, pairs of human figures in smaller medallions surround a central animal combat scene. Other animal combats are depicted in the field, while horsemen are shown in the corner medallions. The main border also contains lobed medallions with Houris, animal combats, or confronting peacocks. In-between the border medallions, phoenixes and dragons are fighting. By similarity to mosaic tile spandrels in the Ganjali Khan Complex at the Kirmān bazaar with an inscription recording its date of completion as 1006 AH/AD 1596, they are dated to the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century. Two other "vase technique" carpets have inscriptions with a date: One of them bears the date 1172 AH/AD 1758 and the name of the weaver: the Master Craftsman Muhammad Sharīf Kirmānī, the other has three inscriptions indicating that it was woven by the Master Craftsman Mu'min, son of Qutb al-Dīn Māhānī, between 1066-7 AH/AD 1655–1656. Carpets in the Safavid tradition were still woven in Kirmān after the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1732 (Ferrier, 1989, p. 127).
  The end of Shah Abbas II's reign in 1666 marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. The declining country was repeatedly raided on its frontiers. Finally, a Ghilzai Pashtun chieftain named Mir Wais Khan began a rebellion in Kandahar and defeated the Safavid army under the Iranian Georgian governor over the region, Gurgin Khan. In 1722, Peter the Great launched the Russo-Persian War (1722-1723), capturing many of Iran's Caucasian territories, including Derbent, Shaki, Baku, but also Gilan, Mazandaran and Astrabad. In 1722, an Afghan army led by Mir Mahmud Hotaki marched across eastern Iran, and besieged and took Isfahan. Mahmud proclaimed himself 'Shah' of Persia. Meanwhile, Persia's imperial rivals, the Ottomans and the Russians, took advantage of the chaos in the country to seize more territory for themselves. With these events, the Safavid dynasty had come to an end.
caption: Tiled arch with hunting scenes. Late 17th century, Isfahan/Iran. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 6", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "8.4.1", "Image DateTime": "2015:09:11 11:41:58", "Image ExifOffset": "180", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[53, 33, 281/100]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[10, 0, 3081/100]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "1429/152", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[9, 41, 58]", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "215/43103", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "58100/227", "GPS GPSDestBearingRef": "T", "GPS GPSDestBearing": "17240/227", "GPS GPSDate": "2015:09:11", "Image GPSInfo": "1584", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:09:11 11:41:58", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:09:11 11:41:58", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5845/1191", "EXIF ApertureValue": "7801/3429", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "4007/1665", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "83/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1631, 1223, 1795, 1077]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "723", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "723", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1120", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "959", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "3", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "29", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[83/20, 83/20, 11/5, 11/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone 6 back camera 4.15mm f/2.2"}