FERAHAN CARPET

handwoven floor covering from the Farahan district, northeast of Arak in western Iran, produced in the 19th or early 20th century. Like the rugs of Ser-e Band, Ferahans have been prized for their sturdy construction and their quiet, allover patterning. Most of them have a dark-blue ground showing an endless repeat of the herati design, in which a diamond lattice peeps through a tangle of rose blossoms and leaves. The colouring may be continuously varied within such a repeat, producing attractive changes in effect. In other carpets the repeat is the gol hanna', or henna flower, with clusters of six blossoms at intervals. Medallion schemes also occur. The most customary border is the turtle (a pair of split arabesques) on a ground of erosive greenproduced by use of a copper salt that causes the wool dyed with it to wear more rapidly than the portions dyed with other colours, resulting in a sculptured surface effect. Ferahan carpets are usually made with the Senna (Sehna) knot on a cotton foundation. Their pattern, colouring, and sometimes extremely large size have been copied in other weaving centres. The manufacture of Ferahan carpets has been succeeded in the district by that of Muskabad carpets, the quality of which is much poorer.