Tag: Persian rugs

Persian Rugs and the Achaemenid Empire

Posted on by D F

Persia, also known as Iran, was once the political center of the world. The Achaemenid Empire (550-33 B.C.E) held a huge expanse of land, stretching from the Indus Valley to Thrace and Macedon in the north, all the way to present day Liberia in the east. It was the Persian Empire that freed the Jewish people from Babylon, that warred with the Greek city states and that instituted an official language (Aramaic).

Eventually, the empire weakened when the king delegated power to local governors, undermining his own status and causing difficulty in the quelling of local rebellions. This eventually led to Alexander the Great’s reign over the empire. Alexander greatly respected Cyrus the Great, and adopted the Persian technique of proskynesis, or lying prostrate before royalty, into Macedonian culture. Cyrus the Great had huge area rugs, which are said to have dazzled Alexander.

During these peaceful times, the arts flourished, and stone-cutting and carpet weaving became important aspects of Persian cultural heritage. This is when the Pazyryk carpet and others of the world’s oldest area rugs were created. These hand knotted rugs evolved to become world renowned throughout the Ancient and Modern Eras. Today, Persian rugs are still widely known to be the best.

How to Haggle for Persian Rugs

Posted on by D F

You were in the market for fine oriental rugs. You searched all over your town and found a place on the east side. When you arrived at the warehouse you knew that you would find something worth buying, how could you not.

Inside a swarthy man with thick eyebrows and an aquiline nose greeted you. Do you have any fine Persian rugs you asked. He nodded obviously. He took you upstairs to the good stuff, the silk Persian rugs. I am looking for an 8 by 10 you said, silk. He walked away from you with his forefinger beckoning. There was a beautiful red rug, one of three silk Persian rugs you decided would look best in your living room beneath your brown leather couch.

The price of this rug is seven thousand dollars he said when you asked how much. That’s too much, you shook your head. I’ll give you three thousand cash you said. He scoffed and said I can do six thousand cash. You said I’ll pay you five thousand on credit and four in cash. He looked at you warily. Forty five hundred – cash, he said. You shook and knew that a deal on these fine Oriental rugs such as this is hard to come by.

Or you could just skip all the frustration and get an inexpensive rug at 1 800 Get A Rug.

Persian Rugs You Should Have Bought Months Ago

Posted on by D F

You’ve  known you need area rugs for a long time. When you first moved in it was one of those things that you thought you’d get immediately but when you didn’t you put it off and convinced yourself that it was even better without them. Why cover the wood floors, you thought. But now it’s time.

The winter came and went and you felt the barrenness. You could have easily used the color and warmth, the texture and pleasure of walking barefoot comfortably. So now you begin shopping. And because you’re probably going to be in this home for awhile, it’s a good idea to invest in hand knotted area rugs you can be proud of.

Persian rugs are the finest. Silk is more expensive than Persian wool rugs. There are many designs and colors from which to choose, thus you should consider your interior decor and match it with your future Persian rugs.

When you choose which Persian rugs are right, you will remember your initial hesitation to buy as laziness. And through the seasons you will remember you purchase as the right thing to do and feel that your home is cozier, more natural and more properly adorned.

How Luxurious Area Rugs = Confidence

Posted on by D F

The little things can make a big difference in your world. Nice things like silk Persian rugs can take your home from the same old traditional couch and coffee table kind of entertainment area to a fire-burning, rows of library books, pipe-smoking kind of luxurious suite. And it almost happens overnight, even if you don’t have a library with a  rolling ladder.

When you invest in area rugs you’re making a commitment to your home. You want to allow yourself a certain level of luxury and refinement. Area rugs are an ideal way to achieve that. These aspects of luxury are important to the way you live. If you can’t feel good about your living quarters, you probably can’t feel good about yourself. On the other hand, if you’re proud to come home and invite guests over, this will translate into greater confidence.

Textures are often unnoticed consciously, but that doesn’t mean your unconscious ignores the iridescent light that bounces off your silk Persian rugs. These details are important to creating an impression of splendor and quality. Your furniture will be buoyed by the fine materials and the confidence you have in your home and yourself will too. So go ahead and invest today!

Persian Wool Rugs vs. Silk Persian Rugs

Posted on by D F

Which rug styles are the best I wondered as I browsed the rug shop? There are Persian wool rugs, silk Persian rugs and other Oriental rugs for sale.

Persian wool rugs are less shiny than silk. They are more practical because they are hardier and less about aesthetics due to the lack of sheen. Silk rugs should not get heavy foot traffic because they can wear and lose their luster.

After learning this I decided that it would behoove me to have one of each. Since I like to think of myself as a connoisseur, that is, a purveyor of the fine, good and beautiful, it seemed the right choice to choose one of the silk Persian rugs, perhaps to have in my library or maybe even to display on a wall.

But because I am also a rugged man, a man who understands the importance of getting his hands dirty, it seemed that Persian wool rugs are the choice for everyday use. The splash of color and proprietary warmth that comes from these area rugs is too pleasing to hide in an obscure corner of my home. And with that settled, I walked away with two fine, different rug styles.

Area Rugs Made With Care

Posted on by D F

So much of what we have in our homes is mass produced. Our furniture and appliances, the food many of us eat, our reading materials and clothing, it has all been made in huge factories by machines. It seems like our society just doesn’t have room for hand crafted goods anymore. Sad to think about all of the work that used to be done by hand just disappearing. All those years of humans developing skillful ways to craft tools, furniture, clothing, could be lost to time.

All this advancement makes the easy availability of handknotted area rugs all the more special and surprising. Crafting gorgeous Persian rugs from hand is tradition and it is an art form but it is also super easy to take home.  Handcrafted rugs are available at most online rug shops. In fact our friends over at 1 800 Get A Rug have a  fantastic selection.

I love to stand on my hand knotted rugs and think about the life of the people who made them. I consider what it was like developing the skills required to knot an area rug that can fill up a dinning room. I wonder where they learned and if knotting rugs is a family tradition. I wonder if I could do that.

A Persian Rugs Sonnet

Posted on by D F

Recently a rug collector purchased an antique Persian rug. On the underside was an inscription in Farsi in what appears to be the sonnet form, composed with a quatrain, a cdecde scheme and followed by another quatrain, which ties the story together with the end lesson, which the speaker relates to the reader:

Sweet hand knotted area rugs for sale:

A technique passed down over a thousand years

Which other countries have tried, and yet failed

These rugs styles contain oriental tears.

An ancient lover chose one for a girl

She had another who gave her the world

So though she loved this fine area rug

Her cruel husband wouldn’t let it unfurl

He held her in the palm of his hand curled

Until she jumped from a window, lost love.

The moral of this sad and strange true tale

Is to give freedom to the things you love.

If you squeeze too hard, love is sure to fail –

Don’t hang your Persian rugs too high above.

The jealous husband must have prevented her from seeing her paramour and thus the girl, encapsulated in the hand of her lover, felt trapped and committed suicide.Rather gruesome, really. Thankfully today we don’t have such problems.