Persian Carpet Research Articles

Pre-Islamic religious motifs (550 BC to 651 AD) on Iranian minor art with focus on rug motifs

This article reviewed the influence of pre-Islamic religions such as Mithraism and Zoroastrianism on decorative elements of ancient Persian rugs. The article then evaluated the effect of the Islamic religion on Persian rugs. This was examined through extant evidence from pre–Islamic empire artefacts and publications in Persian carpet history, iconography and religious studies. Using spiritual motifs on some ancient rugs results from the important position of rugs in ancient Iranians’ lives. Believing the existence of religious motifs on Persian carpets is because the first carpet in history (Pazyryk) was attributed to the ancient Achaemenians, decorated with symbolic motifs from Mithraism and Zoroastrianism. Pazyryk shows how rug-weaving evolved during the Achaemenids, and it represented spiritual foundations through visual concepts. This article reviewed the symbolic Persian rug motifs from ancient religions through Pazyryk, with support from museum collections. With the emergence of religions, these effects are seen in all aspects of life, including the production of rug design.Contribution: The main contribution of this research was that it investigated the effects of religion on Persian art focusing on the Persian rug. The findings showed that religion had directly influenced the decorative motifs of the Persian rug among high-class families that might have cascaded into visual elements found on commoners’ rugs.

Remixing to Queer the Archives of Diaspora: Qajar Photography and the Persian Carpet

Abstract This article reveals how engagements with the photographic archives of premodern Iran and the Persian carpet break open transtemporal, affective, and queer interplays in diaspora. Examining a digital remix of a photograph of a Qajar princess, ‘Ismat al-Dowlah, from the archives of nineteenth-century Iran, the article argues that the digital (mis)use of archives exposes what forms such as the Persian carpet and photography erase: each medium's close ties with power, labor, gender, and sexuality. It develops a relational approach to understandings of photography that highlights the performative registers for a diasporic gaze while also troubling the imperial investment in understanding photography's history and its practices as a new technology that developed in the nineteenth century. This work considers how unlearning the history of Qajar photography entails deemphasizing the Qajar's king Naser Al Din Shah's fascination with photography's technological newness and instead exposes what desires his fascination was tethered to. This piece brings into conversation techno-historical overlaps between carpet weaving, the Jacquard machine, and computational arts, opening up critical questions about gender vis-à-vis production, labor, and computation within both carpets and computers as media interface.

Structural elucidation of two Congo red derivatives on dyed historical objects indicative of formaldehyde exposure and the potential for chemical fading

Smith et al. recently reported dye analysis of a carpet fragment thought by some to be from a 15th century silk-knotted Persian carpet [Smith et al., Forensic Science International: Synergy 2021; 3:100130]. Sample threads were found to contain several synthetic dyes from the late 19th century, including Congo red, which was first synthesized in 1883, indicating that the carpet is a modern object. Two mysterious compounds designated as A and B of unknown identity were also detected with Congo red in similar amounts on the object. This paper reports the structural elucidation of A and B using high resolution mass spectrometry and multidimensional NMR spectroscopy. To our knowledge, these compounds have never been reported before. Additionally, experiments are described demonstrating that A and B were products from the reaction of Congo red with formaldehyde. Previously unknown homologs of A and B were also formed when Congo red was reacted with acetaldehyde, pentanal, and hexanal, indicating a common reaction mechanism. Uv–Vis spectra of the homologs suggest that aldehyde exposure can cause an overall color change in objects dyed with Congo red. A historic dye swatch book containing cotton skeins dyed with the colorants benzopurpurine 4B and deltapurpurine 5B, which are of the same chemical class as Congo red, and exhibiting a faded appearance, were found to contain dye derivatives analogous to A and B. Chemical mechanisms proposed for the formation of compounds A and B are discussed, along with the possible origins of the formaldehyde exposure. The concept of ‘chemical fading,’ is adduced to heighten the awareness of the exposure of historic dyed textiles to the harmful effects of formaldehyde, a common museum and household pollutant.

Correction of a brow ridge deformity in a comminuted depressed skull fracture using a multiple-layered pericranial flap: the Persian carpet method

Frontal sinus fractures are common traumatic injuries of the head and neck, accounting for 8% of facial fractures. When a severe frontal sinus fracture and a naso-ethmoid-orbital fracture occur together, a postoperative contour deformity is highly likely. A pericranial flap is a reliable and versatile tool for craniofacial reconstruction. The authors fabricated an anteriorly-based pericranial flap in multiple layers to camouflage the fracture site and augment the brow ridge for volumization. Open reduction and pericranial flap coverage using this method (dubbed the “Persian carpet” method) were successfully performed in a 26-year-old male patient with a comminuted frontal bone fracture and a naso-ethmoid-orbital fracture.

Noninvasive identification of turmeric and saffron dyes in proteinaceous textile fibres using Raman spectroscopy and multivariate analysis

AbstractWe used Raman spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis to study noninvasively naturally and artificially aged samples of silk and wool fibres dyed with turmeric and saffron dyes, following historical recipes. The Raman spectra obtained from all the samples using the two excitation lasers (785 and 1064 nm) showed the characteristic peaks of each dye and fibre. The 1064‐nm macro FT‐Raman offered more information regarding the degradation of the fibre substrate, whereas the μ‐Raman at 785‐nm spectra proved more suitable in the identification of dye characteristic peaks. We also performed colorimetric measurements to evaluate the colour change upon artificial ageing and compared them with the information obtained with Raman spectroscopy. The results suggest saffron has a higher lightfastness than turmeric and that silk fibres suffer higher fading and more evident degradation than wool. Raman spectroscopy informs about the chemical composition of the colourants and fibres and their changes upon ageing without sample pretreatment. Finally, we analysed a historical wool sample coming from a 19th‐century Persian carpet, and we identified turmeric.

O perskim oku i o tym, co naprawdę jest perskie w polskich konstrukcjach frazeologicznych

The subject of the article are certain idiomatic expressions constructed with the adjective perski (‘Persian’) in Polish: perskie oko (‘Persian eye’), perski dywan (‘Persian carpet’), perski proszek (‘Persian powder’) etc. Moreover, the author attempts to answer the question: What do we have that is really Persian in Polish? Are these phrases really related to Persia or Persians, or are they just a word game (homophones)? So far the origin of the most popular one, i.e. perskie oko (‘Persian eye’) has not been established even though a lively discussion on this subject was held on the pages of the Język Polski 90 years ago. It was started by Stanisław Szober who in his book Życie wyrazów, explained the origin of the phrase perskie oko for the first time, indicating that it is a semantic borrowing from French, and its basis is l’œil perçant ‘piercing eye’. In response, Józef Birkenmajer claimed this popular phrase comes from Krakow, relating it – quite incredibly – to a Persian man on the label of the popular Zacherlin insecticide powder called perski proszek (‘Persian powder’). It turns out that the source of this expression was a French anecdote by Alphonse Karr from the late nineteenth century based precisely on the word game.

Classification of Persian carpet patterns based on quantitative aesthetic‐related features

AbstractIn this work, the extraction of significant features of Persian carpet patterns was studied. Four aesthetic related features were extracted for a collection of Persian carpet images. To this purpose, a set of 134 color images of three different categories of traditional Persian designs, named “Afshan,” “Lachak Toranj,” and “Torkaman” were collected. At first, the PHOG (Pyramid of Histogram of Orientation Gradients) measure was derived for all patterns to calculate complexity, anisotropy, self‐similarity, and Birkhoff‐like features. Based on the results, anisotropy and Birkhoff‐like features significantly categorize three carpet designs. According to the results, the combination of anisotropy and Birkhoff‐like features increases the accuracy of classification of samples to 97%.

Common Serbian stereotypes about Persians

In this paper, we analyze the reactions collected in a word association test. A total of 654 respondents participated. The test included twelve stimuli related to Oriental peoples, languages and countries. The test was done through an online survey. The respondents cited words or word groups that first came to their minds while reading the given stimuli. We aimed to answer the question: what our knowledge of Oriental peoples is based on and what stereotypesand prejudices we hold about them. The attention is paid to two of the stimuli from the test - Persians and Persian. We look at the frequency and the variety of respondents? reactions. Furthermore, we analyze groups of reactions that belong to the same thematic field. Our results were compared with other ethnonymsfrom the same association test, which had previously been analyzed in other research papers. The most frequent reaction was carpet/carpets, due to the common collocation Persian carpet. Frequent reactions to Iran/Iranians, history and historical figures were also found. The most significant thematic fields are the following: war, history, intellectual and cultural heritage, religion, politics and numerous positive and neutral judgments and attitudes. Therefore, it seems that our stereotypes, judgments, and attitudes about Persians are based on secondary sources, rather than primary. As a result, they lack affective meanings and negative connotations. According to respondents? reactions, Persians are seen as ancient warriors, founders of an old culture and civilization, a nation with a rich cultural and intellectual heritage, descendants of significant historical figures and holders of many qualities, such as wit, wisdom, dignity, nobility, and other.

Transpiration and Drought Stress Recovery of Three Zinnia Cultivars1

Abstract Transpiration and drought stress recovery were investigated in three container-grown zinnia cultivars [Zinnia elegans Jacq. (‘Lilliput' and ‘Thumbelina') and Z. haageana Reger (‘Persian Carpet')] by measuring daily changes in the normalized transpiration ratio (NTR) of well-watered (control), water-stressed, and water-stressed/re-watered plants. Transpiration of plants grown in gradually drying substrate did not decline until the fraction of transpirable substrate water (FTSW) reached 0.16 to 0.12. Symptoms of plant-water stress (i.e. foliar wilt) were first observed on the leaves of ‘Persian Carpet', which was also the cultivar with the highest average daily transpiration rate. By comparison, the remaining two cultivars (‘Lilliput' and ‘Thumbelina') exhibited lower average daily transpiration rates and took significantly longer to reach the same dry-down endpoint (NTR ≤0.15). Drought stress recovery was assessed by comparing xylem water potential and root and shoot dry weight in well-watered and in drought-stressed plants following a 7-day stress amelioration period. Xylem water potential of all three drought-stressed cultivars increased (i.e. became less negative) one week after re-watering. Root biomass and root:shoot ratio were both significantly greater in water-stressed plants than in well-watered plants of the same cultivar, a finding that suggests the likelihood of osmotic adjustment in response to drought. Index words: normalized transpiration ratio, fraction of transpirable substrate water, foliar wilt, containerized horticultural crops. Species used in this study: ‘Lilliput' and ‘Thumbelina' zinnia (Zinnia elegans Jacq.), ‘Persian Carpet' zinnia (Zinnia haageana Reger).

Color Reduction in Hand-drawn Persian Carpet Cartoons before Discretization using image segmentation and finding edgy regions

In this paper, we present a method for color reduction of Persian carpet cartoons that increases both speed and accuracy of editing. Carpet cartoons are in two categories: machine-printed and hand-drawn. Hand-drawn cartoons are divided into two groups: before and after discretization. The purpose of this study is color reduction of hand-drawn cartoons before discretization. The proposed algorithm consists of the following steps: image segmentation, finding the color of each region, color reduction around the edges and final color reduction with C-means. The proposed method requires knowing the desired number of colors in any cartoon. In this method, the number of colors is not reduced to more than about 1.3 times of the desired number. Automatic color reduction is done in such a way that final manual editing to reach the desired colors is very easy.

Application of the nondestructive second derivative spectrophotometry to eliminate the effect of substrate in identification of madder used in Persian carpets

AbstractThe handmade Persian carpet is famous worldwide not only for its elegant design and artistic structure, but also for its brilliant color harmony and incomparable raw materials. Various natural dyes accompanied by different mordants are used on various woolen yarns to obtain a wide range of unrepeatable shades for carpet. In this article, as a first step, the diversity of the undyed woolen yarns used in Persian carpets was statistically investigated by implementation of the Principle Component Analysis. Then the second derivative of Kubelka‐Munk function of samples dyed with madder was considered to reach a pattern for identifying madder. The results show that, although the spectral reflectance of different selected woolen yarns has at least 3 dimensions, all derivative curves are qualitatively very similar with the same minimum and maximum peaks at 510 and 605 nm, respectively. The findings are confirmed when various types of madder were used in the dyeing process. As a result, it is shown that the nondestructive derivative spectrophotometry is able to identify madder on alum mordanted woolen yarns used in Persian carpets and to eliminate the effect of substrate. It is a useful technique for preservation, conservation, and dissemination of the Persian carpet.

Pistachio Hulls, A New Source of Fruit Waste for Wool Dyeing

Natural dyes have been employed in dyeing Persian carpet piles for many years. In this study, the dried pistachio hulls were powdered and used for dyeing wool yarns. The Iranian wool yarn was first scoured with nonionic detergent and mordanted using some metal salts including Cu, Cr and Al. It was then dyed with different amounts of dried pistachio hull powder. Taguchi statistical method was employed to find the effective factors and results of the planned experiments, in order to optimize the dyeing factors. A L18 orthogonal array (seven factors in three levels) was employed to evaluate the effects of different parameters in dyeing process. The colorimetric properties of the dyed yarns were evaluated in CIELAB system. Pistachio hulls found to have good agronomic potential as a natural dye in Iran. Metal mordants when used in conjunction with pistachio hulls were found to enhance the dyeability and its fastness properties. The stepwise process of dyeing with pre-mordanting showed to be energy and time saving and found to achieve high dye retention. Therefore this natural dye has good scope in the commercial dyeing of wool yarns used as Persian carpet piles.

Determining Persian Carpet Design And Technical Specifications By Quality Function Deployment (Qfd) And Kansei Engineering

Abstract. Iran’s hand-woven rug (carpet, farsh, qali) has been in special and fine place from the past to present. Hand-woven rug production in Iran due to variations in plot and map, much experiences, professional weavers and artist has been possesses a distinguished place in the world, so that the world knows carpet with the name of Iran. But unfortunately has lost its place in cross-border and domestic market due to several different factors. Among the factors of reduction of domestic market are Lack of attention to the customer's tastes and feelings and needs of customers. Carpet industry as one of the oldest Iranian industry should have special concern to customers’ tastes and feelings, therefore always there is different solutions for hearing the so called “customer’s voice”. Among these solutions could refer to Kansei engineering which has a significant role in the identification of feelings and needs of customers. Also, there is another solution called “Quality Function Deployment” that allows the ability of introducing technical and quality requirements and also communication between customers’ voice and engineering’s voice. In this research by using of Kansei engineering technique and taking advantage of the opinions and experiences of experts and professionals identified needs and feelings of customers. Then by using of AHP (analytic hierarchy process) method paid to weighing and prioritizes the needs and demands of customers. In the next step by collecting technical and quality requirements and taking advantage of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) technique established the communication between customer’s voice and engineering’s voice that result of this issue was the identification of technical and quality requirements such as much labor and fine map, using of popular and updated map, coordinating colors used in the map and strong loom and prioritize them.

Persian carpet: Who creates the master piece?

The aim is to provide a platform for cultural exchange in terms of increasingmidwives’ awareness on pregnantwomen’s life experiences and their maternal outcome who weave Persian carpets. Persian carpets are very famous across the world. People spend lots of money purchasing them from big companies. However, not many people are aware that weaving carpets is a difficult and tedious process which is done mainly by women in rural areas. Young pregnant women have to sit for long hours in low light rooms and follow the complex designs of carpet patterns. They get paid very small money while they suffer from adverse maternal outcomes. Evidence has shown that rates of pre-eclampsia, malpresentation, preterm birth and low birth weight are higher in this group of women. This creative artwork will provide a platform to exchange the culture and increase the awareness of midwives on maternal issues that these women experience. There will be a carpet artwork in which the conference theme and Logo has been weaved. Also, the presenter will provide an opportunity for the participants to experience what is involved in weaving a carpet. For cultural exchange, people who are interested will be asked to weave some parts of the carpet. There will be some photos of the pregnant women who live in rural areas and weave carpets in difficult circumstances. There will be some discussions on women’s health, and maternal outcomes. This artwork has the potential to raise the awareness ofmidwives onwomen’smaternal experiences and midwifery issues in rural areas who weave Persian carpets.

Ethnic minority entrepreneurs in the international carpet trade: an empirical study

Persian carpets have long been an important commodity in the world market, largely controlled by the Tehran Carpet Bazaar and the Hamburg Free Harbour. Interviews were conducted amongst Persian carpet traders in European centres, providing a historical overview and allowing us to identify trends. The paper discusses the pre-modern bazaar and the authors observe changes in the sector as Persian carpets can now be sourced from new entrants competing with traditional manufacturers. We identify two important issues: 1) the existence of a time-lag from the date of arrival of new migrant groups before the group is able to establish some weak business ties and transform those to strong ones; 2) the key to the success of new immigrant groups in business can be found in their multicultural and multi-linguistic competencies that lead to a higher level of mutual understanding and mutual trust relations which in turn lead to a strengthening of what were initially weak ties.

An empirical study on the effect of WTO membership on Iranian Handicraft industry: A case study of Persian carpet

Article history: Received January 16, 2013 Received in revised format 14 April 2013 Accepted 16 April 2013 Available online April 17 2013 The world Trade Organization (WTO) is one of the few organizations, which could significantly influence on foreign trade and consequently on the economic structure of the countries. There are literally different people in Iran who either encourage or discourage WTO membership. Therefore, it is important to analyze Iran’s WTO membership to empower Iranian handmade carpet in international trades and to help improvement in quality of production. The purpose of this research is to study the effects of Iran’s membership in WTO to empower this industry by performing an empirical survey among 100 experts in this industry. Findings demonstrate that access to WTO plays an important role on increasing production of handmade carpet and developing this industry. In addition, the industry needs to incorporate the recent advances on technology to ensure cost efficient production materials. The industry also needs more creative and innovative ideas due to an increase competition in handmade carpet producers from other countries. © 2013 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Modernization of Iran and the Development of the Persian Carpet Industry: The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry, 1925–45

The two decades, 1925–45, witnessed a dramatic transformation and revitalization of the Persian carpet industry in response to developments in Iranian governance, society and economy. Two historical watersheds were covered by that period, notably the replacement of the Qajar dynasty by a modernizing administration under Reza Shah Pahlavi, and the subsequent wartime occupation of Iran jointly by the Soviet Union and Great Britain. It was during those two decades that Iran acquired a centralized system of government and the beginnings of a modern industrial base. The accompanying social transformation brought about the emergence of new classes of administrators and managers who constituted the dominant elite of the Reza Shah era. This twin process of centralization and modernization had a telling impact on Iranian culture and the arts, including the carpet arts.

The Marginalization of Globally-Born Businesses: Ethnically Divided Trade in Hamburg and the World Economy-The Case of Global Persian Carpet Trade through Ethnic Networks

Problem statement: Persian carpets have long been a major commodity in the world market, controlled by the Tehran Carpet Bazaar and the Hamburg Free Harbor. Today about 200 private traders in the Hamburg Free Harbor area export their carpets to about 10,000 private carpet traders throughout the world, these being mainly of Iranian origin. The case of Persian Carpet represents one of the most magnificent and powerful examples of ethnic enclave economy in contemporary world. Approach: This study brought about some in depth knowledge, qualitative as well as quantitative, of how such an ethnic enclave economy of scale operates, how it reproduced itself and how it met the challenges, be it political, demographical or others. Results: The study showed, that in spite of major political turbulence in Iran since 1979, the spreading of state controlled trading companies inside and outside of Iran and increasing international market pressure due to the growth of copying production of Persian carpets in other countries, the Tehran-Hamburg axis remains the core of this trade-with private Iranian traders occupying the dominant position on both sides of the transaction line. Taking a closer look it became obvious that in particular, it is Iranian traders of Azarbaidjan descent who speak Azari, a language similar to Turkish, who control the trade in both cities. Understanding the character and strategies of ethnic economy and ethnic enclave economy this study concludes, that it was necessary to look beyond and within the demarcation of national background and even ethnic boundaries in a broader sense according to which these phenomena mistakenly had been attempted to be explained. Conclusion: The engine of ethnic enclave economy cannot be upheld without a core, entrance into mainstream economy which required both more than common national and ethnic background. The challenge for this economy is how to dissolve from strong ties to more loose organization based on rationally structured mode of organization. So far, however, the limited group of traders stick together in order to remain in control of this world-wide billion dollars trade.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's grammar of ornament: stylistic tagging and the politics of figuration in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and ‘The Unexpected’

Formally, the staccato prose of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ (1892) and the slow unfolding of Henry James's ‘The Figure in the Carpet’ (1896) represent polar extremes of fin-de-siècle fiction. But the protagonists of both works are engaged in strikingly similar projects: to work out — and, more particularly, to name — the ‘figure’ of a design that appears both literary and decorative. James's narrator, a critic, works obsessively but fruitlessly to trace the ‘primal plan’, the thematic ‘Persian carpet’, of a novelist's oeuvre; convinced that there is an essential figure to be taxonomized, the critic nonetheless fails to ‘name it, phrase it, formulate it’ in the few words he imagines.1 Gilman's narrator also experiences the limits of language as an obscure decor. A patient forbidden to write by her husband-doctor and frustrated when she tries to compose in secret, the narrator understands her situation as an inability to transcribe the wallpaper's ‘principle of design’, to classify and record any decorative ‘laws’ in the paper's endlessly refractory surface.2 Both stories thus analogize the frustration of writing to the inexpressibility of visual pattern. Literary and decorative motifs are part and parcel of the same maddening epistemological effort.

Using Eggplant Skin as a Source of Fruit Waste Colorant for Dyeing Wool Fibers

Today, natural colorants are emerging globally due to their safety and environmental friendly characteristics. Natural dyes have been employed in dyeing Persian carpet piles for many years. Food and fruit industry wastes are one of the main sources of colorants which can be employed for textile coloration. Eggplant (Solanum melongena), a member of the family Solanaceae, is used in food recipes. Anthocyanin pigments are responsible for the dark purple color of its skin. In this research, dyeing wool fibers was carried out using powdered skin of eggplant. For this purpose, the Iranian wool was first treated with some metal salts including Fe(II), Sn(II), Cu(II), Cr(VI) and Al(III). These salts are commonly used as mordant to improve the wash and light fastness of natural dyed textiles. The wool fiber was then dyed with 50% owf powdered skin of eggplant. The colorimetric properties of the dyed yarns were evaluated using a reflectance spectrophotometer. The wash and light fastness of the samples were also measured according to ISO 105-CO5 and Daylight ISO 105-BO1. Results showed that skin of eggplant is a potential source for dyeing wool fibers.