Elegant Persian Tabriz Carpet – Oversize

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 production longer than any other significant centre in Persia. Regarded as the ‘Golden Age ‘ of carpet making, the Safavid rulers 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, despite a relative stagnation in creativity and production during the 18th and early 19th century and many exceptional Persian Tabriz carpets have been made closely based on the ‘original’ Safavid carpet designs. The late 19th century heralded a resurgence of carpet production, referred to as the ‘Revival’, due to increased interest in Western markets for ‘all things Eastern’ and increased patronisation of the Pahlavi Dynasty (1925-1979) to recapture the ‘Golden Age’ of carpet production.

This Fine Tabriz carpet displays an early 20th Century ‘take’ on a Classical 17th Century Persian pattern classified as the ‘Vase’ design. The ‘Vase’ carpet defined group are so named by the presence of inconspicuous or conspicuous vases supported and 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. The ‘vase’ group is also defined by the complex structure, which only applies to the 17th century ‘original’ vase carpets. These Persian classical 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 and not related to technical structure. In true revivalist style of adaptation, the palmettes and floral elements are defined in a rhomboidal interlocking tile pattern. The palmettes are set in a formal arrangement presented in one orientation which presents a stately majestic image. The palmettes are linked by a vine lattice overlaying the wavy frames of each tile. This clever rendition breaks down the rigidity of the tiles creating a magnificent flowing composition. The pattern is displayed as an infinite repeat design whereby the tiles disappear behind the borders, easily visible on all sides of this Persian Tabriz carpet where half tiles are visible. 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, and 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. Lighter shades of colour are presented as the predominant background colours with the details presented in contrasting jewel like deeper tones thus creating a superb easily readable decorative composition. Rich deeper colour tones are predominantly seen in the borders which contrast magnificently to frame the main field pattern.

This remarkable Persian Tabriz carpet displays all the very best attributes of ‘Revival’ in Persian carpet artistry. The composition shows a distinctive ‘take’ on the established 17th century ‘vase’ design , which can only be associated with late 19th and 20th century excellence created by the most skilful and experienced Tabriz weavers.

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.