Author Archives: awilkins

Originally all dyes used in Oriental rug and carpet weaving were made from animal and vegetable substances. The wild madder root is most often used in rug and carpet production resulting in various shades of red. Blues are obtained from … Continue reading →

The Holy Persian city of Qum lies 97 miles south west of Tehran. Qum has been an important theological centre for Shia Islam since the early sixteenth century. Despite not having a long history of weaving, Qum has secured its … Continue reading →

These rugs are made by a section of the tribe which lives a semi-nomadic life between Shiraz and Kerman. There are two other smaller Afshar groups, one near Bijar and the other near lake Urmia. The Afshar tribe was among … Continue reading →

David Wilkins has been guiding his clients around London’s oriental rug warehouses for over 35 years. Now run by his son Alex, who has been in the business for more than 20 years, we escort our customers around the maze of … Continue reading →

With the US trade embargo on all Iranian goods, coupled with the current economic situation, Persian carpets and rugs can represent excellent value for money. Costing less than a good quality fitted carpet it should retain some value and last … Continue reading →

Rugs and carpets woven by tribe’s and villages are usually woven from traditional designs that are entrenched in memory, but for the much finer Persian city weaves the designs are first drawn and later painted onto graph paper. These are … Continue reading →

These were  at one time known as Armenian dragon carpets and are the earliest surviving Caucasian weaves. Opinion differs on their age, some experts place them as early as the thirteenth century but could be no earlier than the sixteenth … Continue reading →

At least two different weave patterns are known as Bakhtiari rugs and carpets. One is woven by the Bakhtiari tribe who live in the Zagros Mountains in central west Iran. The other come from the Chahar Mahal region which is … Continue reading →

The name is applied to the geometric style of Turkish rugs and carpets woven from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. The name was acquired from Hans Holbein the younger, who frequently depicted rugs and carpets in his paintings. It is … Continue reading →

The oldest surviving rug is the Altai or Pazyryk rug. It was found in a mountainous region of Siberia, in the grave of a Scythian prince who died five hundred years before the birth of Christ. Grave robbers soon disturbed … Continue reading →