Lavar Kerman Rugs
Examples of Lavar Kerman Rugs & Carpets
Antique Lavar Kerman Rugs
Kerman is both a city and a Province of the Islamic Republic of Iran. So a Kerman rug may be from the city but more likely the carpet would come from the Province. Raver or Lavar as it is called in the West has had the reputation for the finest Kerman carpets. These so called Lavar Kerman may actually be made in a number of places in Kerman but the market calls them Lavar Kerman. Evidence shows that Laver Kerman rugs were also made in Rafsanjan and that the production of certain producers such as Atiyeh are sold as Lavar Kerman.
Raver was a town 120 miles from the city of Kerman where American companies owned a large number of looms. Through the 20th century the Atiyehs were a major producer of Kerman carpets. It only stopped when due to the Islamic revolution and ensuing difficulties they shifted production to China.
We can expect Kerman carpets to range between 200 and 400 knots per square inch. If a carpet is towards theupper end of the range then it is often called Lavar Kerman. mid to lower end of the scale it is called Kerman. At the low end or below 200 kpsi if the carpet has blue wefts then an attribution to Yazd must be considered.
One consideration that I use in attribution is the borders. It is not an absolute but is a clue is the propensity to use broken or nontraditional borders. Most Persian carpets use a box or frame system of borders. What I am trying to say is that the border frames the field and the field does intrude into the border and vise a versa. As we can see in the Arjomand Kerman carpet above the exact line between field and border is not so rigorously defined. This is getting to be more common but traditionally when I see this I think Kerman, Yazd, or Kashmar.
Persian Knot, Open Left, Depressed Warps
Structure: Depressed asymmetrical knot open to the left. However particularly in older Kerman Rugs we see three shots of weft. In the first course it is rigid. the second course is sinuous and the third course is rigid. this is a distinctive weave most similar to a Vase Carpet” weave. This appears to be the main reason that (the woman British Doctor) made a tentative attribution to Kerman for all Vase Carpets. The similarity between Vase Carpet weave and Kerman weave are similar but not exactly the same.
Examples
circa 1890 overcast sides, tinting, partially oxidized greens and browns, partial end guard stripes, minor staining,
Lavar Kirman Carpet C. 1880
circa 1880 oxidized taupes, foldwear, minor losses to selvages
A Lavar Kirman carpet, Southeast Persia, circa 1900, missing outer guard stripe on all four sides, reselvaged, scattered repiling and tinting, approximately 18 ft. 1 in. by 12 ft. 4 in. (5.51 by 3.76 m.)
Southeast Persia, late 19th century, approximately 16ft. 2in. by 10ft. 11 in. (4.93 by 3.33m.)
circa 1890 inscription cartouche to one end, partial end guard stripes, overcast sides, small reweaves
A Lavar Kirman carpet, Southeast Persia, first quarter 20th century original end finishes, minor repiling, approximately 29ft. 9in. by 19ft. (9.07 by 5.79m.)
Shah Nama of Firdawsi Lavar Kerman Carpet, mid-19th
the border with inscription cartouches enclosing verses from the Shah Nama of Firdawsi from the section on the enthronement of Bahram-e Gur, and the phrase: ‘May it be blessed’
Lavar Kerman Prayer Rug c. 1875
Lavar Kerman Prayer Rug, Southeast Persia, late 19th century
The intertwined trees with birds in this Lavar Kerman Prayer Rugare sometimes thought to represent love and family.