Palmette and Leaf Lattice Heriz Rug

This offset pattern is composed of ascending flowers, shield-like palmettes flanked by leaf-like wings designed for 19th-century rugs from the Heriz region, the North-west Persia area. Very similar palmettes, drawn in a curvilinear manner and combined with identical forked leaves, can be seen on a few examples of workshop carpets made from the late seventeenth century onward in Herat in Khurasan province, east Persia, and the same pattern known as Harshang design was used in the Caucasus in the eighteenth century, as well. Heriz ( Heris ) is a special Turkish knot weaving area of Persia, including many villages, located east of Tabriz in northwest Persia. Weaving has been carried on in the Heriz area certainly since the beginning of the nineteenth century and possibly before that date, named also Georovan, Mehriban, and Bakshaish. The Heriz area may be conveniently divided into three parts; the Karaja district, the Heriz area proper, and the Sarab district. The Heriz design repertoire is that of Classical Iran, featuring Lotus Palmettes, Medallions, Sickle-leaves, Lattice, and Shrub-tree ornaments. Few examples have survived from earlier periods, but a number of carpets with Sickle-Leaf and Palmette spring to mind, basically a synthesis of Isfahan and Vase carpet elements. Heriz weavers used straight lines, Tabriz patterns are always curvilinear; yet the same design of the carpet which is woven from it is always in straight lines in Heriz. This propensity of the weavers of the area to break up curves into straight lines may be seen in operation any day in any of Heriz’s villages. The Tabriz merchants at that time knew that West was demanding carpets sizes in medallion designs, there was mass production in that area using synthetic alizarine dyes. At that time, Western customers liked the straight line Heriz designs and as Ararat Rugs, we also like the straight lines and reinterpreted the Heriz design by using all-natural wool and vegetable dyes at our time. The design of this rug is interpreted with a series of borders and vivid colors are chosen by our designers for this rug.