Rugs: warps and wefts

The warps and wefts are finely spun cotton or silk. The pile is short, usually superb glossy wool, occasionally silk.

These extraordinary carpets are divided into several groups, according to the type of design rather than the locality in which they were made, because scholars are still bickering happily about dates and places.

Undoubtedly each type was woven in its own "royal factory", where the best artists and weavers were gathered together under the patronage of the Shah, to weave outstanding pieces for mosques, palaces, and gifts to foreign potentates.