Some years later, after the completed carpet had been taken off the loom, the finishing processes began. Firstly, the carpet had to be cropped. Today, in a modern western factory, a cropping machine does this in a very short time, but in the days of which we are writing, it all had to be done bit by bit with large curved scissors or hand shears. Finally, after a good brushing, the carpet was washed. If possible this took place in a local river or lake, the carpet being left to dry in the sun.
The above procedure has been given in some detail in oder to illustrate the fact that vast armies of highly skilled work people were necessary to turn out these masterpieces, and we still do not know exactly where any of them were made.
With the death of Shah Abbas the Great, a slow decline set in which was not to be reversed until well into the nineteenth century. The revival came through two sources. Firstly, the Shah of the reigning Qajar dynasty started to take an interest in the arts at about the middle of the century and, secondly, the merchants of Tabriz found a growing trade in Persian carpets and rugs for export.
Gradually a business with Europe was built up, not only in Tabriz, but in the surrounding area, and in 1883 the first European firm established an office in Sultanabad (now Arak). This was a Manchester firm which exported cotton piece goods to Persia. This firm, Ziegler & Co., had been dealing with” Persia for twenty years or more, and already had an office in Tabriz. Apparently they found difficulty in getting their money out of Persia, and it was suggested that they should order carpets for European consumption, the export of which would provide the necessary per contravalue. Before very long Ziegler & Co. were doing a large business in Persian carpets from Sultanabad, and other places in the area, not only by ordering carpets of traditional sizes and designs, but by cultivating a market in special sizes, and even designs, for the European market.
Hitherto carpets had been made in sizes applicable to Persian use, but henceforth, the now familiar sizes were being made for use in rooms of very different shapes. Ziegler’s also used softer shades of colour than had been used before, particularly a soft green shade, and although the carpets were not of the best quality, even today one can find a piece in good condition, which could only have been from the looms controlled by this enterprising firm. They were the first Europeans to put their name to a quality of Persian carpet, and even now, long after they liquidated (before the Second World War) an auction room catalogue may still refer to a piece as a ‘Ziegler’. Ziegler’s were also responsible for obtaining the Ardebil carpet in 1886 from the mosque at Ardebil, together with the second carpet mentioned earlier.
Other European business-houses, particularly German ones, followed Ziegler’s lead, and the Americans also sent representatives to place orders with weavers in towns and villages. Meanwhile, the Tabriz merchants had not been idle. They took control of much of the weaving in such distant places as Meshed, Kashan, and Kirman, either by establishing factories or placing orders with weavers on a cottage industry basis. They, too, started to evolve new designs, which could incorporate the new colour schemes wanted in the western world, and the new western sizes.
Kirman appeared to be the chief attraction for the American market, and although other types of goods were naturally imported into America, the Kirman was one of the most popular, and it still is so today.
All this activity laid the foundations for a very healthy export business which continues today, and now some of the earlier revival pieces have reached the age of mellowness which bring them almost into the antique category.
By the turn of the century some very good Tabriz and Kirman pieces were being made, and those still in existence today can command good prices in world markets. Armenian and Persian dealers settled in America and Europe, and placed orders back home for special qualities, sizes and designs, and some dealers even today incorporate a symbol or signature unobtrusively placed in a corner on one of the borders, or at the edge of the field, in qualities made exclusively for them which have proved successful.
Shortly after the turn of the century, another innovation was introduced into England. It was known that different waters had different effects upon materials such as wool, and after weaving many carpets were immersed in rivers or dammed-up streams known to be effective, before being offered to the consumer. Certain waters imparted a kind of silky sheen to certain types of wool, and took excess colour out of the carpet, mellowing it somewhat. It became increasingly important to find ways of doing this in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth, because genuine old goods became scarce, and it was their mellow colourings that were wanted by the western world.
How then to make the harsh new colours of the contemporary rugs look something like the old ones? The dealers in Tabriz, Constantinople (Istanbul) and other towns tried many ways, one of which was to place the rugs in public places for the daily traffic to trample on them, after which, when the surplus dirt had been removed, the colours would at least have become much softer. The local answers to the problem were interesting enough, but not for the quantity of goods now demanded. The solution was soon to be put on a gigantic commercial basis by an Armenian who set up a chemical washing plant in London in 1907. His name was Shahinian, and for many years he had the monopoly for this process, being the only ‘chemical washer’ in Europe. No need now to find a suitable water or other local means to obtain the required finish for a particular rug or, indeed, for a particular market. Mr Shahinian had the answer in his little bottles.
Carpets were made under contract in every producing country of suitable yarns and dyes for the type of wash they were destined to undergo, and it was this processing enterprise which helped in no small way to make the London transit market the largest in the world, and the centre of world trade in Oriental rugs and carpets. The warehousing for this vast quantity of goods was, and still is, carried out at the Cutler Street Bonded warehouses of the Port of London Authority in the city of London, known colloquially as the PLA or just the ‘Docks’, the latter name being a misnomer, as they are some distance from the river. The actual location of these cold, dark, thick-walled warehouses is very roughly a kind of triangle with sides on Bishopsgate, Houndsditch and Middlesex Street (the famous Petticoat Lane).
The description cold and dark refers only to the buildings, which are very old and were once associated with Clive of India. Go inside these buildings, and a world of colour bursts forth. Here are rugs and carpets from every producing country, old, new, washed, unwashed, and they are all recorded in the stock books, piece by piece, by the Port of London Authority. Each piece has a PLA stock number, and a PLA size, which is accepted by everyone as being correct. The individual traders do, of course, keep records too, but when the carpets enter or leave the Bonded premises, it is the PLA record which is used.
London did not, however, remain the only transit port 5 Germany in particular became an important market, and today it is by far the biggest consumer of Persian goods in Europe.
From the early years of this century the American market also developed, mainly, in the first place, with old goods but later, as these became somewhat scarce, a business was created, particularly with Kirman, in a special type of texture and design which today is easily identified as an ‘American Kirman’.
The Persians have always been masters of design, not only in rugs but in every conceivable form of art. In our particular field, ever since the Golden Age, any Persian carpet has always been of a ‘complete’ design, that is, a design in which every motif is in the right proportion to the whole. We are speaking, of course, of town carpets as distinct from tribal or rural cottage pieces, many of which, although masterpieces of their kind, were not the ultimate result of the artist’s conception. The towns from which these exquisitely designed carpets emanated are not many in number, and a few words about their turbulent history will show that much dedication was required to carry on with artistic life in the face of the troubles to which they were subjected.
68 Tabriz carpet of ‘Portuguese’ design. The significance of this design is not understood, nor the reason for the name, although various theories have been given. It has been said that it was executed in the seventeenth century for the Portuguese in Goa, and indeed the sailing ships are manned by Europeans. Whatever the significance, the design appears to be of a volcanic island, the red centre being the crater. The next band of colour is cream, or natural, which could represent the snow line. Then comes green, the tree line, and finally a light brown colour representing sand, before the sea. 19 ft 7 inch X 9 ft 10 inch