Farahan | 255cm x 75cm | No. 17207

Floral Farahan runner, beige with border

Place of origin

Farahan is a district in Markazi province in central Iran. A classic floral design of the rugs from the Mahallat region near the city of Sultanabad was named after it.

The region Mahallat near the city Sultanabad (formerly Arak) became an important center for the knotting of Persian export rugs from the 1870s onwards. The English import company, Company Messrs played a major role in this development. Ziegler & Co. Ltd. founded by a Swiss merchant, also opened a branch office in Mahallat in 1883.

These rugs, also known as Mahal, Ziegler-Mahal or simply Ziegler, were knotted in the surrounding villages according to western color and pattern specifications. The mixture of European design guidelines of lighter, calmer colors and classical patterns in the style of Farahan and Sultanabad rugs was very well received in Europe.

The success was huge and Ziegler rugs became an international quality label. The exquisite flow of the multileaf flowers is remarkable in Ziegler rugs. Well-preserved antique Ziegler rugs achieve record prices today, especially in the USA. For some years now, these antique Ziegler designs are being reknotted at high quality in Pakistan or India.

The newly produced Ziegler rugs made of hand-spun wool and dyed with natural colors are part of the revival of hand-knotted rugs. The return to traditional techniques began in the early 1980s, driven among other things by the DOBAG initiative. Initially, reproduction concentrated on Ziegler rugs, as described above. Subsequently, the reproduction of almost all traditional Persian patterns began. This resulted in both the adaptation of antique rugs and contemporary designs, with the charm of an antique rug.

Patterns

The luxuriant flower motifs of this Farahan are elegant and varied. The graceful vegetative symbols representing flowers, leaves and branches are artfully intertwined.

The repeating elements in the center field of this Farahan rug have no specific center (so-called repeating pattern). The repeating pattern has a calming but not boring effect. Rugs with repeating patterns are also called patterned.

The edge of the rug is decorated with an edging (border). The border forms a beautiful contrast to the center.

The background of this Farahan is beige. The border features gold and beige.

Material

The technique used to produce the materials of the pile of this Farahan is over 200 years old. The wool is dyed with natural colors and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or vegetable dyes is more complicated, expensive and time-consuming than dyeing with chemical dyes. For a bright red, for example, you would need about one kilogram of ground madder root per kilogram of wool as dye. For a strong, not too pale yellow, you would need two kilograms of the dye madder per kilogram of wool. Also spinning wool is time-consuming and labor-intensive. In addition, fewer and fewer people are able to hand spin wool.

But the effort is worth it: By dyeing with natural dyes, the high-quality wool retains its natural fat content. Wool dyed with natural colors and spun by hand creates fascinating, iridescent patterns. The charm of hand-spun wool with its slight irregularities and natural hues unfolds as a contrasting element in modern interiors, but also in rooms that are furnished in a more traditional or country house style. The weft and warp threads of this Farahan are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and stretchable and, therefore, ideal for a durable backing fabric.