Nain Animal Design Carpets and Rugs

The city of Nain  ( also spelled Naeen ) with 35,000 sq. km. area, is located at around 80 miles distance to the east of Isfahan city and 200 miles to the south east of Tehran. It is located in the central plateau of Iran, in Isfahan Province. The climate of Nain is hot and dry. This city has many famous villages and wells.

The historical city of Nain has old antiquity and is a relic of pre-Islamic era. In
geography books belonging to the 1st Islamic century, e.g., `Hodudol Alam` (372
AH.) there are some notes revealing the name with some characteristics and
features of this city. The most important historical relic of Naein is `Narenj` or `Narin` castle. The native architecture as well as the way of living of this desert community is very interesting and astonishing.

The city of Nain is famous in the world for its magnificent rugs. The history of finewoolen men's cloak and cloth making dates back to centuries, but carpet making is relatively new and around a century old. All the Nain rugs have asymmetrical (Persian ) knots, wool pile and cotton warps. They are closely clipped for better look. In some instances silk warps are used. In higher and finer knotted rugs, kork (baby lamb's wool) is used for the pile. Using touch of silk around the flowers and arabesques is common. It is not unusual to see Nain rugs with more than 500 knots per square inch. Making very big Nain rugs especially for Arab customers is a common practice in Nain.

Some of the Nain rugs have animal directional designs. Here I am posting few pictures from such a rug with the pictures of lions hunting gazelles. Master artist Habibian who died few years ago at the age of 90 was one of the pioneers of Nain rugs. His carpets had his signature and many producers now a days use his signature on their carpets and this has become a controversy over Nain carpets in the past several years. Of course, when you want to buy a Persian Nain rug, you should not be obsessed with the mere signature as the quality of the rug, the balance in the design, the consistency of the knots are few more important factors than the signature itself.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085