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Persian Rugs: Weaving in Koliaei

Los Angeles Home of Rugs on Nov 13th 2021

Among rugs woven in Kurdish villages of Persia, some can be found related to semi-nomadic or settled tribes. For instance, Koliaeis are living in Sangor that are active in weaving and producing elegant and precious rugs.

Koliaeis usually uses cotton for both warp and weft. Just one weft is passed through knots that are firmed to give compression to the warps. In some older samples, the weft is woolen in red, the pile is high, thick, and shiny. Sometimes camel wool was used for warps.

The colors were shiny and too contrastive. Red and yellow spectrums are dominant on others, and colors from madder have been used. The frequent model was a praying rug in 50X100 inches.

Rugs of Koliaei were adorned with original designs derived from the customs of the tribe. The most famous design has been called "Bandi" or "Shieshekari" that there is a simplified floral model in a busy background like models of Safavid. This kind of adorning background is divided into a network of diamonds composed of stems and small roses. Such model was frequent in the rugs of east of Malayer especially in Mishen and even in the famous runner of Hamedan. These models are sometimes woven in the corners and in other cases have been developed in all backgrounds freely.

Rugs of Koliaei are adorned with Minakhani on a dark blue background or a model composed of floral stems in a network of diamonds. The border is usually simple with an epigraph.

Another model in rugs of Koliaei is composed of a hexagonal in the center of a dark background with an arrow on each side. This model is called "Persepolis". In fact, Jamshid is a legendary character. He has been mentioned in Shahnameh of Ferdowsi as the first Persian emperor and the king of Persepolis in Persian epical works.

Most Koliaei rugs have medallions in a monotonous background, which is a feature of Kurdish rugs.