The Golden Age of Oriental carpet weaving was the Late 16th/Early 17th Century and it was in Persia during this era during the rule of the Safavid dynasties that true classic pieces were designed and woven. These classic carpets had fabulous colour harmony and near-perfect design scale resulting in exquisite pieces of timeless elegance and high decorative appeal. They were true masterpieces of design and artistic integrity, their intrinsic beauty and symmetry of designs complementing almost any room setting.
During a short period of the Late 19th/Early 20th Century, there was a burst of great high quality Persian carpet weaving in several parts of Persia precipitated by the Western demand for carpets of similar design and quality to the great masterpieces woven during the Safavid Golden Age. Since this period, there has been an overall decline in quality due to a highly commercialised and more mechanised aspect of the industry mass-producing pieces, all helped by the factory production of modern chemical dyes. Today when people think of Persian carpets for a room, they generally think of the ones mass-produced during the mid-20th Century, then sometimes opt for a Contemporary piece, simply because ‘it looks good’, whereas if they were to spend a bit more time looking, they will find themselves a truly wonderful one-off piece designed and woven by weavers who truly care about the piece’s overall quality and artistic integrity.
Robin Yacoubian
Douglas Stock
March 27, 2012
Robin is correct regarding the beauty of Persian carpets from the period circa 1870 – 1910.
Quality did go down, in general, after the First World War; and then went right off a cliff after World War II.
The late nineteenth century period for Persia carpets offered both traditional designs, as well as formats where the weavers were almost prescient in anticipating a shift to “modern” and “minimalistic” design that occurred in Western art decades later. If you look at the geometry and spacing of certain “Serapi” carpets from the last quarter of the 19th century, they blend perfectly even with abstract, contemporary art.
The mid 20th century was, indeed, a dark period for Persian carpet weaving. Fortunately, there is still a sufficient supply of pieces from the late 19th and early 20th century period to be commercially viable. While I am admittedly biased, I think these pieces are one of the great values on the art market.
Douglas Stock
D.B. Stock Antique Carpets