Best Persian Rugs

The best Persian rugs come in different categories, i.e. city rugs or tribal rugs according to where they were woven.

Under the heading of city rugs comes Afshar rugs. These are usually a smaller variety with an all over design of geometric style patterns, with diamond shaped medallions all connected to each other. The color pallete is fairly dark for instance dark red, dark reddish brown, dark blue etc. Most often they are made completely from wool but sometimes they are made with a cotton base.

Next comes Tabriz rugs – the coloring of these rugs is much lighter, in fact almost pastel with a varied selection of colors including pink, peach, camel, beige and ivory with the motifs colored in blues,greens,yellows,oranges and lavender. This type of rug usually has a silk and wool combination pile with silk highlights.

Kashan rugs – this type features long diamond shaped medallions with much floral detail. You will get other details like hunting scenes, vases and pictures. Most Kashan rugs have similar background colors of Navy Blue, rich red, beige and ivory. Other colors feature in the designs including red, turqoise, blue, beige, ochre, white and brown. Sometimes you might find a little green included in the designs.

Kerman rugs – these particularly use pictorial designs. They use a nice color range from reds, blues limey green, pink ivory, orange and beige shades, a very nice combination. The Kerman rugs are really quite famous for their picture content.

Baluch – yet another style of Persian rug. These come from southern Iran and the members of the Baluch tribe hand weave these rugs. They are a nomadic people and use the ancient Persian traditional methods and colors which were used about 2500 years go. Their designs comprise all over patterns with a very small pallete of rich dark reds , navy blue and ivory being the main shades used.

Shiraz rugs – These rugs are woven in Shiraz which is in central Iran. These rugs feature very simple, almost crude designs and textures, i.e. they have a long pile. Animals and plants feature in the designs with very plain colors. The main color on these rugs is red.

Wiss rugs – these are tribal rugs from Wiss which is situated near Hamedan in Iran. These rugs have quite traditional designs with flora, foliage, palmettos, garden type elements and vases. The main color in these designs is dark red.

These are just a few of the best Persian rugs. With ten thousand villages in Iran currently producing Persian rugs you can imagine just how much choice there is and with each weaver putting in their own interpretations of designs just how huge the choice is, it really is mind boggling.