Extremely Fine Persian Tabriz Carpet

The city of Tabriz in North West Persia, was the earliest Capital of the Safavid Dynasty, ( 1502 – 1736 ), and as such is most likely to have been the centre of carpet weaving longer than any other significant centre in Persia. Regarded as the ‘Golden Age ‘ of carpet making, the Safavid Shah’s were avid patrons of the arts in all subjects, and actively encouraged pursuit of excellence in craftsmanship and creativity. Tabriz led the way, and as a result of this long tradition, Persian Tabriz carpets, influenced by varying cultures over time display a huge repertoire of varying designs from ‘medallion’ to overall repeat patterns.

The range of colours is seemingly endless, and the combination of colours used is always carefully considered to create the most harmonic and decorative end product. From these earlier times, these established traditions have continued through to the present day, and many exceptional Persian Tabriz carpets have been made closely based on the ‘original’ Persian Safavid carpet designs.

This Fine Persian Tabriz carpet displays an early 20th Century ‘take’ on a Classical 17th Century Persian pattern classified as the ‘Vase’ design. The Persian ‘Vase’ carpet defined group are so named by the presence of inconspicuous or conspicuous vases supported linked to a riot of fantastic blossoms, and palmettes, infinitely varied in design and in varying scales. These large flora forms are arranged on wavy stems which intersect, invariably on three different levels to form huge curvilinear lattice patterns. Around the large flower heads coil thinner stems with smaller flowers and curled leaves. These Classical Persian carpets were thought to have been made in and around Kerman in South East Persia. The interpretation and presentation of the Vase design as seen in this magnificent Persian Tabriz carpet has resulted in a highly decorative carpet closely linked in appearance to the original classical vase carpets presented in early 2oth century colour orientation.

Tabriz weavers have access to an enormous extensive colour palette based on a tradition dating back to the 16th Century. This extensive palette allows for a large number of colours for the weavers to choose from to create the very best artistic representations. Based on tradition, the weavers have an in built understanding on using huge ranges of colour in any one piece. Shades of red, blue, salmon pink, green, brown, ochre, apricot and ivory are included in this Fine Persian Tabriz carpet, juxtaposed superbly to compliment the fine drawing of the pattern details and version of this Classical design. The ginger background colour in this highly decorative carpet is rare and offsets the tones of the pattern colours to great artistic effect. The fluid field decoration is complemented superbly by the ivory border decoration with diagonal orientated medium sized palmettes and flower heads drawn in a similar way to the main field elements, and presented in similar colours to those in the central field. These floral elements are then supported by angular stems which cleverly act as a contrast to the main field pattern and as such creating a highly effective frame to the main composition.

This Persian Tabriz carpet is a superb ornate example of early 20th century weaving.  It displays all the very best attributes of recognised Persian Tabriz artistry.

For further information please contact us and our team will be pleased to assist you. All pieces in the collection are under the auspices of Essie Sakhai, one of the world’s foremost experts and collectors of fine handmade Persian rugs and carpets.