HERIZ CARPET

Heriz also spelled Heris, floor covering handmade in any of a group of villages near the town of Heris, lying east of Tabriz in northwest Iran. Heriz carpets-primarily room-sized, stout, serviceable, and attractive-have found ready markets in Europe and the U.S. They are an offshoot, apparently, of the Tabriz carpets, a country version of city styles. The smooth curves and flowing lines of a sophisticated Tabriz medallion system are translated into hard, geometric angles and broken contours. Repeat patterns occur less frequently, and a jagged vine and rosette border is characteristic. Different phases of this production and individual subvarieties have been sold in the West under specific village names, such as Sara b (or Serapi), which has light, rather bright colour schemes; Gorevan, in darker colours; Bakshayesh; and Mehraban. Heriz carpets are Ghiordes-knotted on a cotton foundation. From time to time there has been experimentation in the production of silk rugs-again influenced by the Tabriz rug trade-in rather crude designs and bold colours. Heriz carpets as here described do not predate the late 19th century, at which time they apparently supplanted a rustic production for local use.