Ghom
Ghom (or Qum), 90 miles south of Teheran, is Persia's second most holy city, where Mohammed's daughter Fatima lies buried among kings and peasantry.

No carpet-making on a large scale took place there until the 30's. Since then experiments have been made with different patterns. Early Sehna, Kashan, Isfahan and other better quality carpets were copied in various combinations. The border from one carpet would be combined with the field of another, certain ornamental designs replaced by others. In this way quite a lot of new patterns were obtained, but these carpets were long lacking in originality. A characteristic feature, however, was an ivory beige ground, and frequent use of the light green colour that is otherwise so rare on Persian carpets. A new generation of artists have now taken over the design, and several new patterns have been created, above all in an attractive turquoise colour combination, these have given the carpets from Ghom a new profile.

Among the many patterns, four in particular have enjoyed great success on the world market. The garden design, in which the field is divided into small squares like flowerbeds, containing different flower motifs and figures. The Striped design, consisting exclusively of stripes in different colors and ornamentation running with the length of the carpet. The great throne-room in the Golestan Palace in Teheran is covered with striped carpets of this kind, of varying provenance and 70-80 square yards in size. The illustrative carpets can depict birds, winged lions, dragons, old Persian hunting scenes, historical scenes, etc. In this respect, the imagination of the artists seems inexhaustible. The birds and animals are usually of silk yarn. The prayer niche is also common.

These carpets are evenly knotted, with a shortcut pile, and they are very hard-wearing. The only objection one might make is that they are excessively sober, and show no trace of improvisation. The strict control under which they are manufactured allows no deviation. The same applies to the silk carpets, which predominantly carry the popular hunting motif.

Sizes range from c. 6ft 10 in x 4ft 3 in up to c. 9ft 9 in x 13ft. No over dimensioned carpets that will be difficult to sell, or unprofitable little squares: production is geared to exports. The warp and weft are of cotton. Turkish Knots.

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Last Update  16 May, 2008