Wonderful Old Persian Heriz Carpet

Heriz carpets are highly distinctive, presenting a unique and distinguishable style of design. Heriz is a city located in North West Persia, near the city of Tabriz, which is one of the most historically important rug weaving centres in Persia with a weaving tradition dating back to the 16th Century. Most often, Heriz rugs have oversized geometric medallions that are crisply delineated against a rich red, rust or dark blue field, and sometimes ivory back grounds are seen. The pattern is almost always geometric, although some Heriz rugs have an all-over layout often with geometric floral motives combined with curvilinear floral forms. The classification of Heriz origin is applied to describe neighbouring town and village carpets following Heriz tradition. Since the Heriz ‘region’, is not too far from the Caucasus, many Heriz carpets display similar colours and motif drawings to traditional tribal Caucasian rugs.

The most common supporting colours are brownish red, light and dark pink, light and dark blue, greens, yellows and ivory. Blue and ivory are normally added to increase contrast. Heriz carpets are sometimes described as Serapi, which is the trade name given to technically finer quality Heriz carpets, thought to have been woven before 1900. The name Serapi originates from the village of Serab. It is also located in North West Persia and carpet designs made there are varied with an accent on traditional Caucasian and North West Persian Kurdish iconography.

This Persian Heriz carpet is a superb example of the type displaying a combination of geometric and curvilinear drawing, a mix of tribal tradition and traditional urban styles of pattern drawing. As is often the case, the pattern is symmetrical in both the vertical and horizontal axis, consistent with formal designed carpets based on a Classical Persian tradition dating back to the 17th Century. There is an extensive range of colours from the Heriz palette seen in this carpet, as detailed above. The juxtaposition of these colours ensures that this Persian Heriz carpet presents an exceptionally attractive image.

Persian Heriz carpets have a timeless appeal, and the style of their designs and the tones of colour used fit effectively in both traditional and contemporary interior settings.

Wonderful Old Persian Heriz Carpet. This piece was handwoven in Heriz , Iran. 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.