The land of the Persians, known to Europeans for centuries as Persia, is fractured by mountain ranges, made inhospitable by deserts, yet rich in fertile plains, forests and jewel-like gardens.
Home to the most sublime architecture in the world, and a breeding ground for poets, empires, mathematicians, astronomers, mystics and saints, it has an enduring and invincible fascination.
Our mission is to enrich your understanding of this great civilization, from the empires of Xerxes and Cyrus, the Parthians and Sassanians, the Mongol and Oghuz, the Safavids, and Rumi, Hafez, Saadi and Omar Khayyam to Ayatollah Khomeni and the modern state.
This type of Persian Carpet is known in Persia and the worldwide trade as Ardebil Senneh Baf. Most Ardebil carpets use large scale geometric designs because the population is akin to the Azerbaijan Republic, both originating from the Kizil Bash tribes of the Turkic Ak Koyanlu horde.
The Ardebil Senneh Baf is distinct because it nods to a more Persianate sensibility. Finely knotted, sensitively hued, and with the design of a fishpond as an existential metaphor. It has been said the fishpond pattern is to exercise the Sufi idea of layers of consciousness, and should be clearer/stronger towards the centre, whilst having no technical change.
Pure woollen symmetrical knots on a cotton warp, two weft shoots per row of knots.
Ardebil has a Sufi shrine that is an important pilgrimage centre. The famous Ardebil Carpets now in the Getty and the V&A were gifted to the shrine during the Safavid era. The Safavid Empire and the fact of Persia being a Shia Islam country began in Ardebil in the early 16th century.
A Tour de Force of Persian Art.
We welcome you to view our beautiful Ardebil Carpets below.
