Kashmar Rugs

Kashmar is a Khorasan town in north-eastern Iran that specialises in two things: size, and a design nobody else weaves in quite the same way.

The design is Zirhaki, which translates roughly as archaeological. Instead of a medallion, the field is filled with objects: vases and ewers, bowls, columns, cypress trees, birds, and fragments that look lifted from a Persepolis relief, scattered across an ivory or soft cream ground and drawn in blues, pinks and muted reds. The effect is a museum vitrine rather than a garden, and it is immediately recognisable once you have seen one.

Kashmar also weaves conventional medallion and all-over designs, but its reputation rests on the large Zirhaki pieces. Construction is a cotton foundation with a good Khorasan wool, a medium to fine knot, and a short even pile that keeps the busy drawing legible. Because the ground is pale and the motifs are separated rather than interlaced, a large Kashmar fills a big floor without darkening it.