Antique Rugs, Hamedan

Hamadan, Iran is one of the oldest cities in the world. In Northern Iran, the Hamadan Province and its many neighbouring villages produce a vast amount of unique handmade wool area rugs.

Featured motif: The Herati: a flower in a diamond shape, bordered by curved leaves along each side of the diamond.

Made from the wool of rugged, high altitude sheep, Hamadan (or Hamedan) rugs are famously resilient and durable. The most common foundation is cotton, with a few rare sightings of silk foundations in some areas.

Colors: In most villages, natural vegetable dies still create vibrant red, blue, dark brown and camel background colours. Black, white, green and gold create and outline motifs.

Patterns: The Hamedan region has 1500 small villages. Since each village has at least 2 characteristic designs, there are at least 3,000 different Hamedan rug patterns to choose from. Geometric patterns are common, with small animal and floral elements.