The oriental rugs in the Banco de España Collection include this outstanding piece, which comes from the city of Kerman in what is now south-eastern Iran.

Its design reflects the traditions of that ancient city, which dates back to the Sasanian Empire and whose history is inextricably linked to Persian rug making. In line with tradition, the rug is dominated by a single large medallion. It is lobulated in form and the two longer ends are finished in bulbous appendages. Its interior is packed with floral motifs, including large 'Sha Abbas' type palmettes in various forms (expanded, flamboyant forms and others which are more contracted), some of them entwined in pearled rinceaux.

The decoration on the field is completed by four large corner motifs interlinked at their ends and by rinceaux, creating a busy edge that encloses the medallion in a narrow niche. The background is dark blue, with stand-out bouquets and flowers. It also features large, sickle-shaped leaves resolved in sky blue and burgundy.

The edging comprises undulating, sinuous lines consistent with the overall composition. The interior profile is mixtilinear, with numerous enclosures formed by the wavy pattern. The background of these areas - knotted in a blue so dark that it is almost black - is filled with small grids of flowers radiating out from bowls arranged in alternating positions. The pattern follows two different models (which share a highly regular sequence): one comprising small white flower heads and the other inflorescences seemingly made up of lotus flowers. This type of composition with bowls or cups spilling out regular constellations of small flowers has been characteristic of rugs from Kerman since their earliest days.

In the Farsi nomenclature used for such rugs, this one is in the Golestan style, which means that its main motif is flowers, and its decorative layout follows the Lachak Toranj design code. This means that the main decoration on the field is a medallion (toranj), accompanied by corner decorations (lachak).

From the type of medallion and the general decoration of this piece, it is thought to date from the 1930s, which makes it quite old for an oriental-style rug of this kind. The brightness and delicacy of the colours is proof that they are still natural; otherwise the rich colour of, for instance, the indigo field would have been unattainable. This and other backgrounds also show the characteristic barring (abrash, in Farsi), i.e. differences in shade from row to row within a group of knots of the same colour. Abrash are irregularities in colour that result from the use of hand-dyeing with natural pigments. Their presence confirms that such techniques were used to dye the wool here.

As usual in products from Kerman, the rug is woven with asymmetric or Persian knots. The knot density is fine enough to assure the renowned precision of Persian patterns: around 57 knots/dm2, i.e. 325,000/m2.

In Farsi terminology, this is a density of 40 Raj (a unit of measurement based on the number of knots per 7 cm).

Antonio Sama