Very Large & Fine Persian Kirmen Carpet C.1920-40

Of very large country house proportions the super quality Kirmen hand-woven carpet of wonderful intricacy with a typically busy central field of repeating leaves and palmettes, to a madder red ground with beautiful tones of powder blues, ambers and greens, the whole with a royal blue border and surviving from the second quarter of the twentieth century.

This piece has been in storage for some years and so the condition is superb. There is no abrash or holes, frays or tears. It was purchased along with other large carpets from the Rare Carpets Gallery, Kings Road, London in the year 2000.

Kirman (sometimes spelled Kerman) has been a major center for the production of high-quality carpets since at least the 15th century. In the 18th century, some authors considered the carpets from the province of Kerman, especially at Siftan, to be the finest Persian carpets, partly because of the high quality of the wool from the region, known as Carmania wool. It is probably because of the fondness of the people of Kerman for roses, which they cultivate for the attar, that they depict them so profusely in their rugs. Sometimes they represent them as filling vases set in rows (we see several vases in the filed on this piece) and they also weave them in the borders among green leaves, as placed there tenderly and not hanging from such stiffly formed vines as are seen in other Persian rugs.

A bonafide country house carpet, the very apparent quality and size being a testament to this.