Kashan (carpet)

Example of a cashmere carpet

Kashan is the name of a well-known type of Persian carpet . Since there is no official transcription of the Persian-Arabic to the German-Latin script, there are different spellings such as: Keschan, Keshan, Kaschan and Kashan . Kashan is located in central Iran at the old caravan route from Tehran via Kashan to Qom , Yazd , Kerman , then on to India and Pakistan leads.

As with many other Persian provenances , the place Kaschan is a staging area and therefore the namesake for all carpets knotted in the surrounding area. The collective name extends to around eighty villages and towns, the most important of which are Abusaidabad, Aliabad, Armak, Aroun (today almost a suburb of Kashan), Chonsar, Fin, Kamsahr, Hataris, Nasirabad, Nischkahn, Nuschabad, Rahak, Ravand, Tahirabad and Vasvan are. Natanz , located far to the south-east, should also be mentioned.

Kashan carpets are among the best classic oriental carpets. The knot is made with the Persian knot , not the Turkish knot that is widespread in Persian carpets. The knotting technique probably goes back to the Seljuks and their invasion in the 11th century, although the oldest carpets are already in graves from around 400 BC. Find. The technique was developed to perfection during the Mongol rule of the previous two centuries. The weaving technique of Kashan carpets was placed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010 .

The place Kaschan can refer to a very old textile tradition, which is already mentioned in travel reports of the 16th and 17th centuries. The craftsmen of this town on the western edge of the Great Salt Flat, Dascht-e-Kavir , were once famous for their excellent woven fabrics made of cotton and silk . In the 16th century, the art-loving Safavid kings Abbas I (1587–1529) and Abbas II (1642–1667) initially established silk weaving mills here, soon afterwards also carpet-knotting manufacturers, which reached their peak. Shah Abbas I, known as the Great - he is considered one of the most important patrons of Persian art, especially the art of carpet knotting - is buried in a magnificent mausoleum in Kashan.

Old Kashan carpets are characterized by the fact that at least one weft thread is colored light blue. The central medallion shows different shapes, often with many bulges, and has pendants as well as parts of other medallions in the spandrels. The ground on which the medallion rests is densely covered with arabesques , palmettes , leaves and other vegetable elements, with small birds and animals often added. These motifs make the carpets appear soft and flowing.

The “ sacred carpet ” from the mosque of Ardabil contains an important reference to the art-historical significance of Kashan's carpet . It is on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum , London . The Ardabil carpet was completed in 1539–1540 and is the oldest dated carpet in the world. This extremely finely knotted carpet measures 11.52 × 5.34 m and has a knot density of over 520,000 knots / m². Shah Tahmasp (1524–1576) commissioned these carpets for the shrine of his ancestors, Shaykh Safi al-Din, in Ardebil. The carpet was made as a couple. The second, only partially preserved piece is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles . The inscription cartouche of this huge, over sixty square meter magnificent carpet shows the year as well as the name and origin of the knotter: Maqsud Keschani. The Persian ending “i” is the same as the German preposition “von / aus” and therefore means “Maqsud from Keschan”. Another contemporary testimony is the famous Viennese hunting carpet from the 16th century, which is probably also a knot from Kashan.

It is also known that the Swedish-Polish King Sigismund III. (1566–1632), through whom the merchant Muratowitz ordered carpets in Kashan - known in literature as so-called Polish carpets - and had his oriental traveler supervise their production on site in Kashan. The knotting tradition seems to have gotten a break later, because Kashans can no longer be clearly identified from the centuries that followed. That changed suddenly in the second half of the 19th century, when new factories were opened in Kashan, which then primarily served export. Renowned manufactories such as Ateschoghli, Burudscherdi (primarily a trading house), Tabatabai, Mohtascham , Dabir-Sanayeh , Gastelli & Sadaghiani, Ghaffari, Ghotbi, Golhaneh, Taftchandjian and Kazan were founded. Quite a few of these factories have closed their gates again, but their knots keep the famous names alive.

The works of the top manufacturers Mohtascham and Dabir-Sanayeh are particularly sought after and are now among the most sought-after items that the oriental carpet antiques market has to offer.

In order to make its top position and its quality standards clear to the layman as well, it is sometimes jokingly referred to in the trade as the “Mercedes” among the hand-knotted. As an original Kashan, it is one of the most resistant oriental carpets, which is at the same time lavishly patterned and very traditional. The main basic colors are red, followed by dark blue, beige-ivory and a pale reed green.

Masterpiece

A particularly beautiful prayer rug from the early 20th century can be seen in the Carpet Museum of Iran. It measures 360 × 290 cm and is made of silk on cotton and is described as follows:

Translation:

“This raised rug, brocaded with silver threads, is one of the masterpieces from Kashan in the 19th century and was probably knotted in Mr. Tafazolly's workshop. The pattern of the carpet is a prayer niche with a tree that fills the main field of the carpet with its colorful palmette flowers. We also see palmettes above the niche. The main border of the carpet frames the main field with its fluctuating palmette flowers. "

In October 2001 a carpet was auctioned in London for US $ 64,609.00: A KASHAN 'MOCHTASHAM' carpet, Central Persia, circa 1890 with the following description (translation):

“A carpet made for Zell-i-Sultan. The small inscription on the outer border says: Qazan carpet and partners. The large inscription reads: Made for His Excellency, the most noble, most fortunate, the most splendid, the sublime, the high-ranking son of the King of Kings, the very great Zell-i-Sultan and commissioned by the one who is the Rank of the great Nasr al-Mulk. "

Zell-i-Sultan was the eldest son of Shah Naser al-Din . His mother was incapable of standing, so he was unable to take the throne. He became governor of Isfahan 1870-1875 and thus controlled half of the country of Nasrulla Khan, who received the title Nasr-al-Mulk and was one of Shah Nasir al-Din's company on his trip to Europe from 1873-1874, although there is no known connecting part between the holder of that title and Zell-i-Sultan.

Individual evidence

↑ Official homepage of UNESCO

Web links

Commons : Kashan (Carpet) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

[1] Official homepage of UNESCO