Tabriz Hand-Knotted Persian Rugs and Carpets

Tabriz — the most technically accomplished Persian city weave

Tabriz lies in north-west Iran, in the Azerbaijani part of the country, and has been a weaving centre since the Safavid workshops of the sixteenth century. UNESCO lists it as a World City of Carpet Weaving. What separates Tabriz from the other great Persian centres is less a style than a discipline: the workshops there weave to a drawn cartoon with a precision that makes almost any design possible, from strict medallion layouts to pictorial scenes and copies of museum pieces.

Tabriz also uses the symmetric Turkish knot, unusual among Persian centres, which holds the pattern crisply and stands up well to wear. The classic designs are the Mahi or Herati field — the small fish-and-rosette lattice — and large floral medallions with matching corners.

The city’s standing is easy to verify: the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art all hold Safavid carpets attributed to Tabriz workshops. For provenance and technical background, the Jozan Carpet Encyclopedia is the standard reference.

Raj — how Tabriz quality is actually measured

Tabriz is graded in Raj: the number of knots counted across roughly 7 cm of the rug’s width. It is the single most useful number to ask for, because it tells you more about a piece than any adjective a seller can offer.

• 25–30 Raj — robust everyday weaves, roughly 130,000 to 180,000 knots per m² (about 80–120 kpsi)
• 40 Raj — standard workshop quality, around 330,000 knots per m² (about 210 kpsi)
• 50 Raj — fine weaving, around 510,000 knots per m² (about 330 kpsi)
• 60 Raj — very fine, around 730,000 knots per m² (about 470 kpsi)
• 70–80 Raj — collector quality, from roughly 1,000,000 knots per m² upwards

A higher Raj is not automatically the better buy. It buys finer drawing, not longer life — and above about 50 Raj the pile is cut shorter, which makes the rug more sensitive to heavy traffic, not less.

Which Raj for which room

• Hallway, dining room, family living room: 30 to 40 Raj. Dense enough to look refined, coarse enough to take the traffic.
• Living room, bedroom, study: 50 Raj is the usual choice, and the point where the drawing becomes noticeably finer.
• Formal rooms and wall pieces: 60 Raj and above, often with silk highlights. Beautiful, and not what you want under a dining chair.

The workshop names

As in Kashan, individual workshops matter. Haji Jalili is the great nineteenth-century name, recognisable by a soft, faded palette of ivory, terracotta and pale blue and by unusually delicate drawing. Benam and Alabaf are twentieth-century workshops known for technical consistency. These names are also freely borrowed in the trade, so they are worth checking rather than taking on trust.

Living with a Tabriz — an honest note

Tabriz drawing is symmetrical and precise, and it rewards being seen whole. In a room where a sofa or a large table covers the centre, the medallion is lost — an allover Mahi field, or one of the muted vintage pieces, works far better in that situation.

Vintage and antique examples have often been reduced in pile, and some have been chemically washed at some point in their life to soften the colours for the western market. That is not a defect and it is why muted Tabriz rugs look the way they do, but it does mean the pile is shorter and the piece more delicate than a comparable new rug. Anything relevant is described individually for each piece.

At a glance

• Origin: Tabriz, north-west Iran
• Knot: symmetric Turkish knot
• Pile: Kurk wool, often with silk highlights; fully silk in fine pieces
• Foundation: cotton warp and weft; silk in the finest qualities
• Quality range: 25 to 80 Raj, roughly 130,000 to over 1,000,000 knots per m²
• Designs: Mahi (Herati), floral medallion, pictorial and garden layouts
• Underfloor heating: suitable
• Documentation: written assessment of Raj count, materials and origin with every rug

Care

Vacuum in the direction of the pile at moderate suction, without an abrasive rotating brush bar, and keep the machine off the fringes. Turn the rug end for end once a year. Blot spills rather than rubbing them into a short, dense pile. A hand wash every five to ten years is enough for most pieces; antique and silk-containing rugs should never be soaked at home. Customers in Germany can use our rug cleaning service in Würzburg, including collection and return in the region; elsewhere we are glad to help you find a specialist nearby.

Related collections

Persian rugs overview · Kashan · Isfahan · Heriz · Vintage rugs · Qum silk