Martin Rudner

The Modernization of Iran and the Development of the Persian

Carpet Industry: The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet
Industry, 192545
The two decades, 192545, witnessed a dramatic transformation and revitalization of the
Persian carpet industry in response to developments in Iranian governance, society and
economy. Two historical watersheds were covered by that period, notably the replacement
of the Qajar dynasty by a modernizing administration under Reza Shah Pahlavi, and the
subsequent wartime occupation of Iran jointly by the Soviet Union and Great Britain.
It was during those two decades that Iran acquired a centralized system of government
and the beginnings of a modern industrial base. The accompanying social transformation
brought about the emergence of new classes of administrators and managers who
constituted the dominant elite of the Reza Shah era. This twin process of centralization
and modernization had a telling impact on Iranian culture and the arts, including the
carpet arts.
The Persian carpet had undergone a signicant historical evolution during the
Reza Shah era. During the 1920s producers, designers and traders responded
creatively to an upsurge in international markets for Persian carpets. Thereafter
they had to cope with the global economic depression of the 1930s and wartime
occupation of the country in the early 1940s. Meanwhile, within Iran itself, the
drive towards state-building and modernization had fostered the emergence of
new bureaucratic and industrial elites. As Cecil Edwards commented in his
survey of the carpet-producing centers of Iran shortly after the Second World
War, without the perennial stimulus of patronage, praise and a congenial atmos-
phere, (carpet/artistic) genius will wilt and fail to ower.
1
Martin Rudner is a Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at the Norman Paterson School
of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa.
I wish to express my gratitude to Rippon Boswell & Co. AG of Switzerland, and its Chairman
Mr Samuel Wennek, for their generous support for the research that enabled the undertaking of this
study, and for the provision of photographs of examples from the Soleyman Moradpour Collection
of ne Persian carpets to accompany its publication. I am also grateful to Iain Stewart for comments
on an earlier draft and his valuable input to the preparation of this study, and to the Iranian Studies
reviewer for constructive advice.
1
Cecil Edwards, The Persian Carpet. A Survey of the Carpet Weaving Industry of Persia (London,
1975; reprinted).
Iranian Studies, volume 44, number 1, January 2011
ISSN 0021-0862 print/ISSN 1475-4819 online/11/01004928
#2011 The International Society for Iranian Studies
DOI 10.1080/00210862.2011.524491
The opening up of Iranian society to international trade in the late nineteenth
century, which gained in momentum during the 1920s, greatly affected the scale,
scope, and market orientation of Persian carpet production. Long a mainstay of
Persias traditional handicraft and commercial economy, the knotting of carpets
was increasingly restructured towards export-oriented production. Towns that
formerly concentrated on traditional textile manufacture, then in decline,
renewed themselves as carpet-producing centers. As exports expanded, new
design motifs, patterns, and colors were introduced in response to world
market demand. Then, when international trading opportunities dwindled
during the Great Depression and World War II, Irans newly emergent elites
had already begun to exercise a signicant domestic demand for ne carpets.
The growth of an alternative domestic market for especially luxurious and
rened items played a key role by way of inspiring a renaissance in contemporary
Persian carpet design and production.
The production of hand-knotted carpets, a traditional Persian craft, was
buffeted by a maelstrom of shifting opportunities, tastes and synergies during
this epoch of rapid transition. As the mode of production became transformed
from its craft origins to a veritable cottage industry, the design of Persian
carpets reacted to the trade-offs between European and North American taste
preferences for the decorative arts, on the one hand, and the quest for Persian
authenticity on the other; and between international market opportunities and
domestic market appeal.
Yet for all the dynamism of that era, the Persian carpet remained for all
Iranians, and for Persias new modernizing elite in particular, a stable and
valued symbol of cultural identity. The Persian carpet represented a distinctive
cultural product, a unique art form embodied in a universally appreciated house-
hold decorative artifact. In historical retrospect, the artistic and technical achieve-
ments of the great workshops of the Reza Shah era denoted a return to the classic
standards of excellence of Persian Carpet artistry reminiscent of the Safavid
heritage. This epoch denoted a neo-classical high point in the venerable
history of the Persian carpet.
Revitalization of the Persian Carpet Tradition
The classical era in Persian carpet history, associated historically with the reigns
of the Safavid Shah Tahmasp (152476) and Shah Abbas (15871628), rep-
resented a quintessential high-point in Persian aesthetics and artistry. Sadly,
this once glorious tradition plunged into a prolonged state of decline following
the Afghan sack of Isfahan in 1722.
2
Its grandeur having faded, for the next two
centuries Persian carpet production remained primarily an indigenous village
2
On the Persian carpet arts during the classic Safavid period, circa 15871628, see Ian Bennett,
ed., Rugs and Carpets of the World (New York, 1977), esp. 4469; G. Wilfred Singer, Persian
Carpets, in Persia: History and Heritage, ed. John A. Boyle (London, 1978); for a scholarly treatment
50 Rudner
handicraft.
3
Most of what was produced consisted of crude items for local
utilization. Marketable output had declined precipitously pending the revival
or trade in the last decades of the nineteenth century.
4
In a fascinating irony of the history of decorative arts, it took an upsurge of
popular interest in late nineteenth century Europe to bring about a reversal in
the centuries-old decline of the Persian carpet industry. A heightened European
public interest in orientalia, which had been greatly stimulated by Londons
Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851, and was further promoted by the 1891
Vienna World Exhibition, excited a more widespread European and also
North American appreciation and taste for the Islamic decorative arts.
5
Indeed,
the Vienna Exhibition was the rst international fair to feature the carpet arts
specically. Nevertheless, it was indicative of the diminished condition of the
Persian carpet industry at the time that very few rugs were actually available
on display in Persias pavilion at the Vienna exhibition.
6
The ensuing upsurge in international market demand for hand-knotted
oriental carpets induced a response from traders, which in turn prompted a
gradual revival of exports of Persian carpets. The number of people employed in
Persian carpet production rose from around 1,000 in 1860 to 65,000 by 1910.
Similarly, the contribution of carpets to Persias export revenues grew from near
zero in the mid-nineteenth century to about 12 percent in the period 191113.
By the late 1920s exports of Persian carpets had grown to constitute Irans
second largest foreign currency earner, after oil.
7
The renewal of the Persian carpet trade began initially with local merchants
who scoured surrounding villages for items to sell abroad. The main centers
of this early trade were Tabriz,
8
the largest city in the country at the time and
its commercial metropolis, followed by Meshed and Rasht. Those early traders
had to overcome the tremendous hazards of doing business in Iran. Until well
into the 1920s there were no regular roads connecting the main carpet-producing
areas, so that carpets had to be transported by donkey caravan across rough
of the subject see Richard Ettinghausen and Ehsan Yarshater, eds., Highlights of Persian Art
(Boulder, CO, 1979).
3
On Persian carpet production during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries see Hadi Maktabi,
Lost and Found: The Missing History of Persian Carpets, Hali, 153 (2007): 6879; and Beatties
Benets, Hali, 151 (2007): 5354.
4
Donald Wilbur, The Triumph of Bad Taste: Persian Pictorial Rugs, Hali, 2 (1979): 193;
William Moore, Textile Museum Rug Conference and Exhibition Celebrates Persian Carpets,
Oriental Rug Review, 8 (1988).
5
On the role of the 1891 Vienna exhibition in cultivating a reborn European taste for Turkish,
Persian and other oriental carpets see Ian Bennett, Art for the Times: Vienna in the 1890s, Hali, 8
(1986): 4044.
6
Martin Rudner, Town Carpets from Pahlavi Iran, Hali, 6 (1984): 387.
7
Cf. Massoud Karshenas, Oil, State and Industrialization in Iran (Cambridge, 1990), 69, n. 7 and
Table 3.4; Moore, Textile Museum Rug Conference and Exhibition Celebrates Persian Carpets.
8
See Donald Wilbur, Heriz Rugs, Hali, 6 (1983): 212, for a study of the early connection
between Heriz carpet producers and the trading center in Tabriz.
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 51
desert tracks to the export gateway. Indeed, these caravans were not infrequently
attacked by bandits, whether simply thieves or tribal brigands in revolt against
the government of the day. Indeed, conditions were such that the production
and export of carpets from Tabriz in the early part of the twentieth century
was barely protable, if at all.
9
Prior to World War I, the trade in Persian and other oriental carpets relied on
Constantinople (now Istanbul) as their main distributing center for international
transactions. Persian carpets were shipped to Constantinople from Tabriz across
Russia and the Black Sea. When this transportation route closed because of the
Russian and Turkish revolutions and subsequent wars, Constantinoples role
as a carpet entrepo t came to an end. The Armenian, Greek and Jewish merchants
who specialized in this trade were impelled to relocate elsewhere, most notably to
London. The Port of London Authority seized the opportunity and made
available excellent facilities for the oriental carpet trade, including bonded ware-
housing. These facilities enabled London to serve not only as an import gateway
to the United Kingdom, but moreover as an entrepo t for onward shipments to
European and American markets. As a result of this conuence of transport
facilities, London became by the mid-1920s the world center for the Persian
and oriental carpet trade.
Meanwhile, the ramshackle Persian Empire (as it was then styled) found itself
in the throes of a political transition after 1921, as a weakened, tottering Qajar
ruler, Ahmad Shah, was gradually edged out by a new, modernizing adminis-
tration under a former military commander, Reza Khan. After ve years of
adroit political maneuvering, the new leader was crowned as Reza Shah
Pahlavi in April 1926.
The government of Iran (as the country was ofcially renamed in 1935) under
Reza Shah comprised a modernizing autocracy. A host of policy reforms were
introduced at the behest of Reza Shah with the aim of promoting administrative
centralization and economic and social modernization. Tehran, the capital, also
emerged to become the commercial heart of the country, eclipsing the status
of Tabriz and other towns that had hitherto predominated import/export
trade.
10
Railways and road networks were expanded, state banks were estab-
lished, and some sixty major state-owned industrial enterprises were set up to
produce textiles, cement, sugar, cigarettes, canned goods and other foodstuffs.
A further 200 industrial concerns were founded under private auspices with
government support and encouragement. Whereas the merchants of the bazaar
9
United Kingdom, Diplomatic and Consular Report for the Years 19021904 on the Trade of Azer-
baijan, Cmd. 3308: 9.
10
For an economic history of modern Iran see Charles Issawi, De-Industrialization and
Re-Industrialization in the Middle East since 1800, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 12
(1980); for general overviews of Iranian economic and social history see also Charles Issawis
edited Economic History of Iran, 18001914 (Chicago, 1971), 150169; Donald Wilber, Iran. Past
and Present, 8th ed. (Princeton, 1976); and P. Avery, G. R. G. Hambly, and C. Melville, eds., The
Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 7 (Cambridge, 1991).
52 Rudner
generally prospered under this regime, by far the greatest beneciaries were in the
public sector bureaucracy itself.
11
Whereas the driving force behind the modernization process was Reza Shah
himself, these political and economic changes spawned the creation of a new
and more broadly based cadre of well-educated ofcials, including administra-
tors, managers and technical professionals.
12
It was they who staffed and ran
the vastly expanded governmental apparatus and the emergent network of
state economic enterprises. Along with army ofcers, court favorites and high
bureaucrats who acquired land through connections with the Shah, these ofcials
formed a dominant elite class that effectively supplanted the 1,000 great landed
families that had hitherto dominated traditional Persian society under the
former Qajar dynasty.
In still another momentous irony of Persian carpet history, it was the emer-
gence of this new Iranian elite that invoked a renewed demand for a classical stan-
dard of excellence in contemporary Persian carpet design. In outlook and taste,
this modernizing elite combined Western-style developmental ambitions with a
heightened nationalist ardor in areas of cultural identity. Indeed, culture was
instrumental to Reza Shahs goal of enhancing Irans sense of national identity
and pride after centuries of decadence. Deliberate efforts were made to revitalize
the symbolic attributes of Persian culture in such culturally treasured areas as lit-
erature and, signicantly, the arts of the carpet. As will be seen, government
policy interventions were intended to protect producer incomes, uphold the tech-
nical quality of production, and enhance the artistic standards of Persian carpet
design.
13
Given their social status, nancial means and up-market tastes, the
new ofcial elite created a vibrant domestic market for nest quality Persian
carpets.
Thus, the modernization of Iran under Reza Shah had a two-pronged impact
on the evolution of the Persian carpet: on the supply side, by its measures
aimed at improving the qualitytechnical and artisticof carpet production;
and on the demand side by creating an increasingly important home market
for very ne carpets. The accompanying photographic plates, from the Soleyman
Moradpour Collection, illustrate the extent of the transformation that occurred in
the Persian carpet arts during this era. A veritable renaissance of excellence in the
leading carpet-producing centers was testimony to the cultivated tastes of the
11
For an assessment of the political and governmental transformation of Persia/Iran under Reza
Shah, see, for example, Gavin R. G. Hambly, The Pahlavi Autocracy: Riza Shah, 19211941, in
The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 7, ed. P. Avery, G. R. G. Hambly, and C. Melville (Cambridge,
1991); L. P. Elwell-Sutton, Reza Shah the Great: Founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty, in Iran Under
the Pahlavis, ed. George Lenczowski (Stanford, CA, 1978), 2940.
12
Roger Savory, Social Development in Iran during the Pahlavi Era, in Iran Under the Pahlavis,
ed. Lenczowski, 94; Charles Issawi, An Economic History of the Middle East and North Africa
(New York, 1982), 106.
13
For an analytical perspective on the traditional Persian carpet design themes, see Schuyler
Cammann, Paradox in Persian Carpet Patterns, Hali, 1 (1978): 250257.
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 53
new Persian elite that had emerged as a result of the developments taking place in
Iranian society and economy.
Some years later, G. Wilfred Seager of Oriental Carpet Manufacturers Ltd.
reected on the quality of Persian carpet production in the 1930s:
This growth in carpet production did not imply that carpets could no longer
be made as ne in closeness of knots as those made for patrons who had no
need to count the cost of production. Carpets as ne as ever could still be
made . . . If a particular example must be quoted of recent exceptional crafts-
manship, one may call attention to the carpets which came from the looms
of Emogli of Mashad some thirty years ago. The superlative carpets woven
by his ustadsmaster craftsmen indeedin arabesque designs reminiscent of
the nest carpets shown in Timurid miniatures, achieved wide fame. Many
found their way into royal palaces in Tehran. Some may be seen in reception
rooms in the Majlis and the ofcers club.
14
These were representative, indeed, of a crowning Imperial grandeur achieved in
neo-classical Persian carpet design.
Persian Carpet Industry Renewal
As the growth of trade expanded beyond the availability of used rugs from
village household sources, traders began to invest in the actual production of
carpets specically for export to European and American markets. Soon, indigen-
ous traders were joined by British, European and American importers seeking to
access their own regular sources of supply. Already in the 1880s, Ziegler &
Company of Manchester opened a buying ofce in Sultanabad and put in place
a contractual, putting-out system arrangement for export production. By orga-
nizing local producers to weave carpets specically on their behalf, traders
were better able to obtain particular designs for their markets and maintain
some measure of quality control, at a time when the carpet trade was by and
large characterized by disarray. This export-led development resulted in the
spread of carpet production to additional towns and villages, which contributed
their respective design themes. The contractual arrangements that ensued
between traders and producers created an enabling environment for the large-
scale production of Persian carpets of a consistent commercial quality, a
system that transformed carpet making from a traditional cottage craft to an
export-oriented cultural industry.
Export markets during the 1920s and 1930s appear to have had a dualistic
inuence on Persian carpet design and colors.
15
Export-oriented production
14
G. W. Seager, Persian CarpetsSome Basic Principles, Carpet Annual 1948 (London, 1948).
15
Rudner, Town Carpets from Pahlavi Iran, 388.
54 Rudner
was in the main carpet-producing centers. Taste preferences in the two main
export markets, Europe and the United States, were reected in export-oriented
production, which dominated output of ne carpets in the main production
centers. Carpets designed for the United States trade tended to portray bolder,
decorator colors and themes, and were knotted in thicker pile, whereas carpets
destined for European markets displayed more classical motifs, hues and nap.
16
However, the increased production of ne carpets for export generated, in
turn, growing opportunities for master designers (ustads) and inspired creativity
and innovation in the carpet arts. Persian carpet design came to ourish in the
main producing centers consistent with an authentic appreciation of local
traditions patterns, colors, fabrics, and workmanship.
Among the earliest foreign rms to have established a buying ofce in Persia, in
Sultanabad in 1880, Ziegler & Company eventually controlled some 2,500 looms.
In order to better maintain quality control Ziegler developed a contractual system
with weavers which included the supply of yarns that had been prepared in the
rms own dye house at Kala. The wide spectrum of colors seen in Ziegler
carpets from that era are testimony to the rms careful and systematic develop-
ment of organic dyestuffs for their carpet production. Competing rms attempted
to copy these dye formulae and design patterns, and also Zieglers organizational
structure in relation to weavers. It is noteworthy that Zieglers operations in Iran
were beset by almost continual nancial and other challenges during the 1920s and
1930s that led to its closing down in 1934, bitter testimony to the difculties
confronting the Persian carpet export trade during that turbulent epoch.
Another early and important British presence in the Persian carpet industry
was the rm Oriental Carpet Manufacturing Limited (OCM), founded in 1908
with the aim of combining trade with quality control in production. Its rst
workshop was opened in Hamadan in 1910. OCM and most other foreign-spon-
sored workshops produced carpets designed to appeal to American or European
markets. Much of their output consisted of mass-produced commercial products
based on simplied designs in a style somewhat reminiscent of the Safavid
tradition. Mention should also be made of Dr Heinrich Jacobys German
company PETAG (Persische Teppiche AG), based in Tabriz but with workshops
elsewhere in the country, particularly in the Sultanabad region, which produced
classical Safavid designs using only natural dyes, including several to the commis-
sion of the German government. Along with this commercial production, a rela-
tively small number of ner quality carpets were also produced in such notable
weaving centers as Tabriz, Kerman, Ravar, Kashan, and Meshed, and later in
Isfahan, Qum, and Nain as well. These premium products were produced in
sizes, colors, and patterns that reected traditional authentic themes, albeit some-
times modied to suit contemporary European and North American preferences.
The accelerated growth of the Persian carpet trade unfortunately also attracted
less scrupulous producers who used inferior wool and cheap chemical dyestuffs.
16
Cf. L. Stroh, The American Market Place, Hali, 4 (1982): 184.
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 55
The widespread use of aniline dyes following World War I had a damaging effect
on the reputation of Persian carpets. In the early 1920s over 35 percent of Persian
carpet exports by volume were made with aniline dyes (Table 1). In value terms
the proportion of aniline dyed carpets was much less, at just over 30 percent, indi-
cating that better quality, higher priced carpets avoided these dyes. To be sure,
ofcial regulations were introduced prohibiting exports of Persian carpets
made with aniline dyes, in order to protect their reputation. Stricter enforcement
of these regulations, coupled with import controls on synthetic dyestuffs, greatly
limited the abuse during the depressed 1930s. By then it was mostly the inferior
grades of carpets that were still being made with aniline dyes. Since these syn-
thetic dyes were not manufactured in Iran, carpet producers had either to
obtain synthetic dyes from black market sources at high cost, or else utilize
higher cost natural dyestuffs.
As a result, the proportion of exports made with aniline dyes fell steadily, to
around 5 percent in 1944/45. This shift away from aniline dyestuffs probably
occurred in domestic production as well, and represents a convenient proxy
for the improved overall technical standards of the Persian carpet industry
during this period.
While the export trade remained important, the Persian carpets of the Reza
Shah era retained by and large a high element of cultural authenticity. Carpets
produced in the various cities and towns of Iran tended to portray distinctive
designs, color preferences and technical attributes that were characteristic of
their provenance. Given the sheer size of Iran, and the difculties of communi-
cation and transport during the rst decades of this century, there was compara-
tively little blurring or mixing of characteristic carpet designs from different
towns or regions. Yet, the modernization process itself had a homogenizing
effect on carpet design. Enterprising Iranian designers producing ne carpets
for the emergent domestic elite market tended to readily share each others
Table 1. Persian Carpet Exports, Aniline Dyes, Select Years 192045
Total Exports Aniline Dyes
Year (kg., million) (million rials) (% quantity) (% value)
1920/21 2.04 49.9 36.5 32.9
1925/26 5.0 117.6 22.1 17.2
1930/31 4.3 124.7 16.9 13.2
1935/36 3.9 119.7 8.9 7.6
1940/41 2.7 119.7 9.5 8.9
1944/45 0.8 164.4 5.6 5.1
Source: Romuald Stettler, Der Persische Handelsteppich (PhD diss, Universitat Bern (Switzerland), 1953 [mimeo]),
50, 60, Tables 10, 13, adapted.
56 Rudner
inspiration, with some encouragement from the newly established Tehran School
of Art, in their quest for an authentic artistic renaissance. Their achievements are
well illustrated in the most accomplished carpets of the period, some of which
from the Soleyman Moradpour Collection are reproduced herewith.
In 1936 the Iranian government introduced trade policy reforms intended to
promote the traditional design and craftsmanship of Persian carpets as a means
of upholding their international market appeal. Towards these ends, the govern-
ment established the Iran Carpet Company in February, 1936 with a monopoly to
supervise production and export sales.
17
To ensure quality control over
production, each producing area was restricted to just two grades of product
(rst and second) in its own characteristic designs. Also, the Company set up
its own workshop, and furthermore sought to encourage other producers also
to regain some of the artistic integrity of Persian carpet design as a traditional
form of cultural expression. Emphasis was placed on restoring traditional
design themes, use of appropriate materials and natural dyes.
By 1938 the original Iran Carpet Company monopoly was suspended, mainly at
the behest of American importers, and trade in Persian carpets was again open to
independent rms. Yet, while the Company no longer comprised the sole export-
ing agency, it still continued to exercise control over qualitative aspects of the
Persian carpet trade. A 2 percent levy was imposed on the value of carpet
exports to be used to fund the Companys efforts to restore the traditions and
upgrade the quality of Persian carpet production.
In a signicant initiative in this direction, the newly established Tehran School
of Art was encouraged to put in place a training program for carpet arts and
design. Prominent master designers were commissioned to design carpets for
the Iran Carpet Companys own workshop. Indeed, the dramatic expansion of
Persian carpet production could not have been sustained without the artistic
resources of a growing cadre of talented artistic designers. Artistic creativity
was essential in order to satisfy the differing taste and decorative requirements
of various markets, export and local. While exports contributed to the initial
revitalization and growth of the Iranian carpet-producing economy, it was the
emergent domestic market that did much to inspire, sustain and enhance the
artistic and technical standards of Persian carpet production.
18
When international
trade collapsed as a consequence of the Great Depression, the impact of these hard
times on the export sector was offset in part by this growth of an alternative home
market for the highest quality Persian carpets within Iran itself.
19
17
For a brief history of the Iran Carpet Company, see Hans Gunther Schwartz, The Iran Carpet
Company, Hali, 6 (1984): 409 . This state-owned enterprise never succeeded in making signicant
inroads into the predominantly private carpet trade, and accounted for a mere 5 percent of total
transactions by the 1960s.
18
Cf. Rudner, Town Carpets from Pahlavi Iran, 388391.
19
On the impact of the Great Depression and wartime occupation on the economy of Iran, see
Julian Bharier, Economic Development in Iran, 19001970 (London, 1971).
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 57
Efforts to improve the quality and artistic merit of Persian carpets redounded
to the advantage of this domestic elite market. While international trade
languished, home market demand stimulated the production of distinguished
town carpets of superior technical quality and exquisite artistic design. At their
best, the products of this period achieved a standard of excellence marking an
authentic renaissance in the Persian carpet arts. The most illustrious examples
were without doubt among the nest masterpieces ever created, and represented
an authentic neo-classical idiom in Persian carpet design.
The Design Traditions of Town Carpets
The initial trade-induced revitalization of the Persian carpet industry did not
occur simultaneously in all parts of Iran. Rather, export involvement spread to
various regions at different times, inuenced by geography and transport.
Tabriz was, early on, both an important carpet manufacturing center and
market for the output from surrounding villages, and a channel for exports des-
tined to Europe.
20
A large number of looms in Tabriz produced carpets under
local or European auspices. Traditional designs were used to produce carpets
of high quality mostly for export to European destinations. A ne Tabrizi
example from circa 1928 (Figure 1), depicts a hunting scene accompanied by
Shahnama verses and surrounded by an Arabesque fret border.
Alas, the Tabrizi master designers of these examples did not identify
themselves, and their outstanding creations were rarely if ever signed. In the
mid-1930s, the Benlian atelier began production in Tabriz of commercial-
quality carpets of attractive design almost entirely for export. Individual ustads
sometimes attached their signatures in small cartouches along the border
design, nevertheless these products tended to be ascribed generally as Benlians.
21
Isfahan, which had been an important carpet-producing center during the
earlier classical period, now re-emerged in the 1920s as a leading venue for the
knotting of very high quality carpets in contemporary designs reminiscent of
the classic Shah Abbas design tradition. By the middle of the 1930s some
3,000 looms were installed in Isfahan. Most of the commercial output was
destined for Europe. However, Isfahan also produced small numbers of very
ne designs in larger sizes, mostly using natural dyes and depicting traditional
patterns. Most of these higher quality Isfahan carpets went to the home
market, to the privileged elite. The Animal and Palmette design pictured in
Figure 2 provides a telling example of the quality products of Isfahan workshops
and designers during this epoch.
20
A British consular report from the Qajar period noted that (Tabriz) carpets cost too much to
produce, though perhaps the most beautiful in Persia, are manufactured at a loss or, at least, do not
fetch remunerative prices: United Kingdom, Diplomatic and Consular Report for the Years 190204
on the Trade of Azerbaijan, Cmd. 3308: 9.
21
Personal communication, Iain Stewart.
58 Rudner
Nain, near Isfahan, was home to an age-old garment industry for traditional
Persian-type clothing. When the trend towards European-style clothing acceler-
ated with Irans modernization during the 1920s, Nain textile producers were
impelled to shift instead to the knotting of high-quality carpets. As late as the
Figure 1. Tabriz Hunting Scene, circa 1928
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 59
1940s there were reportedly only some 150 looms in Nain.
22
Output remained
relatively small, and mostly consisted of very ne Shah Abbas and other
classic designs in colors and sizes preferred by elite consumers. The distinctive
Figure 2. Isfahan Animal and Palmettes Design, 1930s
22
Edwards, The Persian Carpet; Rudner, Town Carpets from Pahlavi Iran, 388.
60 Rudner
characteristic of these early Nain carpets, and especially the delicate blend of
colors, is apparent in the Palmette and Cloudband design portrayed in Figure 3.
Carpet-making likewise commenced in the town of Qum during the 1920s,
initially on the part of a group of ustads and workshop owners originally from
Kashan.
23
To be sure, Qum had a strong cadre of merchants who reacted to
depressed conditions for other traditional wares by taking on the production
of carpets. A substantial portion of Qums output consisted of silk carpets of
eclectic design. Since Qum is located in relative proximity to the capital city of
Tehran, its carpet production enjoyed something of a marketing advantage in
Imperial circles. Qum also beneted from the high caliber of its local carpet
designers, who endowed their town with a deserved reputation for creative excel-
lence. Qum played a leading role in the neo-classical revival of the Reza Shah era,
similar to that of Herat during Safavid times. This comparison is reinforced by
frequent references to the Herati tradition found in Qum carpet designs produced
during the latter period (cf. Figure 4).
The earliest references to carpet production in nineteenth century Kerman
cites high-quality items that were custom-produced specically for grandees in
various parts of Persia. As production grew, ne Kerman carpets were produced
not just for Qajar court personalities, but also for local notables and prominent
merchants. However, by mid-century the town and surrounding villages had
fallen on particularly hard times
24
as markets for the ne Persian-style shawls
for which they were famed declined irretrievably. Facing up to this market
shift, Kermani producers turned instead to carpet weaving at the behest of
merchants from Tabriz. Much of their production featured a vase pattern
reminiscent of central Persian rugs from the Safavid era. This was clearly an
attempt to demonstrate cultural continuity by linking the current Kermani
designs to authentic Persian traditions. Despite its geographic distance from
the new centers of power and industry, Kermani weavers and designers were
endowed with an aura of prestige and accomplishment that fostered their creative
participation in the resurgent of excellence in the Reza Shah era, just as it had
during the earlier Safavid renaissance of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.
25
By the 1920s Kerman had reclaimed its stature as one of the most important
Persian carpet-producing centers. That decade had witnessed a rapid expansion
of international trade which transformed the Kerman carpet economy in the
direction of large-scale production primarily for the American market. The tran-
sition began already in 1909 with the arrival in Kerman of Mr Otto Brandley
representing the Eastern Rug and Trading Company of New York (subsequently
23
The Secret Wealth of Persia, The Moradpour Collection of Persian Carpets, Provenance & Art Histori-
cal Background, vol. 2 (London, 2008), 118 ff and 158ff. See also Edwards, The Persian Carpet, 338.
24
Wilbur, The Triumph of Bad Taste, 193.
25
Cf. Edwards, The Persian Carpet, chapter on Kerman; Siawosch Azadi, Persian Carpets. Cata-
logue of Inauguration of the Carpet Museum in Teheran (Teheran, 1977).
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 61
absorbed by the Fritz and La Rue Company also of New York), the rst foreign
carpet trader to take up residence there. From then, a large and growing portion
of Kerman carpet output comprised non-traditional patterns and colors reecting
contemporary fashions in American home decoration. Carpets were typically
produced in pairs, on side by side looms, in an effort to achieve economies of
scale in design. Nevertheless, Kerman workshops still continued to produce
Figure 3. Nain Palmettes and Cloudband Design, 1930s
62 Rudner
some high-quality items in a variety of eclectic designs earmarked for the dom-
estic Iranian market.
Figure 5 portrays a Polo carpet from Kerman designed by the notable ustad,
Abul Qassem Kermani, to appeal to domestic elite tastes. Its design celebrates
the theme of Imperial grandeur in the realm of royal sport, Polo, and underscores
the national pride embedded in Persian court carpet designs made for the newelite.
The town of Ravar, about 300 km away, also produced high-quality carpets on
commission from local dignitaries and members of the Qajar nobility throughout
Figure 4. Qum Palmettes and Paradise Park Design
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 63
Figure 5. Kerman polo Pictorial Design by Abul Qassem Kermani
64 Rudner
Persia. Already before World War I an American trading rm, Atiyeh Bros. Inc.
of Portland, Oregon, had over 100 looms in the town producing Kerman-style
carpets mainly for export to the United States. Rafsanjan, a village in the
Kerman district, likewise produced very ne carpets of complex and abundant
color.
The town of Kashan had been an important carpet-weaving center in the
classical period, and afterwards specialized in traditional textiles. In the late
nineteenth century carpet production resumed in Kashan on the initiative of
local textile manufacturers and merchants, utilizing imported merino wool
from Australia. By then, the renowned Mohtashem atelier was already producing
designs of particular distinction and appeal.
26
Other distinguished Kashan
workshops also included those of Yakoutiel and Mullah Ismael.
27
By the 1930s
Kashan had some 3,000 looms which concentrated mostly on very ne wool
or silk carpets.
While Kashan carpets were produced in various design themes, its hallmark
was a unique neo-classical medallion pattern based on a traditional Persian
Quran cover.
28
Considerable numbers had been exported hitherto, but as
demand shifted in favor of domestic markets this quintessentially Persian
design now proved popular even among the elites in Tehran and elsewhere.
An example of the Quran cover motif is illustrated in Figure 6, wherein the
classic medallion design is enriched by a creative, innovative palette of colors.
G. W. Seager of OCM London observed in the Carpet Annual for 1948, that
It is in Kashan and Qum that one nds the closest approximation to those
sixteenth century carpet designs which have been the source ever since of the
inspiration of Persian carpet weavers of the nest qualities.
29
Especially ne
examples may be enumerated among the notable neo-classical carpets of the
Reza Shah era.
Meshed lies astride the ancient trade route to China in a lush valley on the high
plateau of northeastern Iran. The site of the tomb of the eighth Imam, Ali
al-Reza, Meshed is a place of pilgrimage in Shia Islam endowed with a unique
architectural magnicence of golden domes, blue mosaic shrines and mosques,
mirrored walls, and bubbling fountains. The local wool, known as peshm-
i-Meshed, is acknowledged to be of the nest in Iran. Carpet production was
mainly for the local market, with larger, very attractive carpets being typically
commissioned by wealthy pilgrims for donation to the mosques. Among the
most illustrious of Meshed carpets produced during the Reza Shah period
were those from the Emoghli atelier, whose masterpieces were acquired for
the Imperial court and high government institutions. The geographic remoteness
26
For a history of the Mohtashem atelier in Kashan see Siawosch Ulrich Azadi, The Mark of
Mohtashem, Hali 160 (2009): 66-73.
27
Nicolas Fokker, Persian and other Oriental Carpets for Today (London, 1973):79.
28
Cf. Edwards, The Persian Carpet, chapter on Kashan.
29
Seager, Persian CarpetsSome Basic Principles.
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 65
of Meshed from the commercial centers of contemporary Iran, and slow and
difcult transport, inhibited a wider trade. Most Meshed carpets utilized a medal-
lion motif, though some were patterned after the classic Shah Abbas design.
All were natural dyed.
Figure 6: Kashan Medallion Design
66 Rudner
Meshed master designers were renowned for their breadth of creativity. Their
workshops tended to emulate the at, silk overcast selvages reminiscent of
Emoghli. A silk composition signed by the Meshed ustad Zarrineh, based on
the famed Ardabil carpets from the reign of Shah Tahmasp I, depicted on
Figure 7, gives expression to the Emoghli style so favored by elite connoisseurs.
Apart from Zarrineh, another prominent Meshed designer from that era was
Saber, who was said to have been the main ustad of the Elmoghli atelier from
1925 until its closure in the mid-1930s, and who went on to found his own
Saber workshop.
30
Even today, many would consider Saber to be the preeminent
Persian ustad of the twentieth century.
Tehran, the national capital, emerged to be play a leading role in the revitaliza-
tion and development of the Persian carpet economy. Historically, Tehran had
not been a major producer of carpets. As the city expanded and grew into the
administrative and economic fulcrum of the country, its main bazaar attracted
fabulous consignments of carpets from all the prominent producing areas.
Located where demand was ourishing, the Tehran bazaar assumed a special
importance as the central national market for Persian carpets. Even European
and American rms found it advantageous to locate their buying ofces in
Tehran, and to procure exports from among locally available inventories.
A market survey by a prominent carpet trader, R. J. La Fontaine, in the
Carpet Annual of 1936 described how producers from across Iran send up to
Tehran any pieces which they especially prize . . . and the demand for them is
well maintained owing to the fact that the wealthier Persians appreciate nice
rugs themselves and there is quite good local demand.
31
Market forces centered
in Tehran exercised a signal inuence on design preferences within the Persian
carpet industry, and in particular on the elements of style, pattern, colors and
quality that the elite favored. Government policies emanating from Tehran
sought to reinforce trends in production and trade that sought to counterbalance
the volatility of commercial export markets during the 1930s by promoting quali-
tative differentials for the elitist home market.
Meanwhile, local Tehran producers also began offering up high-quality
carpets. A ne example is the Paradise Park design in kork wool and silk depicted
in Figure 8. Although their output was relative modest compared to other towns,
Tehran carpets acquired a ne reputation amongst the elite clientele. Whereas
carpet production in Tehran comprised only about 4 percent of total Persian
carpet output in the years 193132 according to ofcial data (Table 3), the
number of very ne carpets appearing on international markets in recent years
that are attributable to Tehran on the basis of structure, design, and especially
colour, would seem to indicate that production there was substantially greater
than hitherto assumed. While in certain respects Tehran carpet design displayed
many similarities to Isfahan, their contemporary themes were, like Qum,
30
Personal communication, Iain Stewart.
31
R. Lafontaine, Present State of the Trade in Persia, Carpet Annual 1936 (London, 1936).
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 67
expressive of the artistic and technical attributes of the modernizing era. A
Tehran example of a Hunting Carpet with Shahnama verses (Figure 9) draws
on the many motifs of the famed Vienna silk Hunting Carpet from the classical
era, most notably the hunting iconography of the eld and the thematic portrayal
of celestial beings/angels/houris decorating the main border.
Figure 7. Meshed Arbabil Design in Silk, Signed by Zarrineh
68 Rudner
The shift in production in favor of superior quality carpets for home market
consumption embodied certain design implications as well. Culturally and aesthe-
tically, Irans newly emergent elite actively favored carpets displaying authentic,
traditional motifs and crafted in the most luxuriant quality but also with a distinc-
Figure 8. Teheran Palmettes, Animals, Paradise Park Design in Kork Wool and
Silk
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 69
Figure 9. Teheran Hunting Motif with Shahnama Verses
70 Rudner
tive, contemporary, modern style of their own. These design features became
the distinguishing attributes of the neo-classical tradition in Persian carpet
production during this period. It was not unusual for some of these carpets to
carry inscriptions indicating that they were made by proud producers for the
Persian market. The inclusion of the makers name in these inscriptions indicates
that theyand not the traderowned the loom, and that the loom owner was a
master craftsman of some distinction and renown. However, very ne carpets for
the aristocratic elite tended not to bear inscriptions, in the tradition of Savad
court culture that eschewed such mercantile ostentation.
The Persian Carpet Trade
Persian carpet exports grew in value during the decade of the 1920s from
approximately 1.2 million in 192021 to peak at 3.3 million in 192829,
equivalent to about 10 percent of Irans total export earnings. The leading inter-
national markets for Persian carpets were the United States (1.7 million in peak
year 192829), continental Europe (817,000) and Great Britain (516,000). A
large proportion of the carpets sent to Great Britain were actually re-exported
to the United States or to continental Europe through British trading connec-
tions.
The largest British traders in Persian carpets during the 1920s were Ziegler and
Co. and Oriental Carpet Manufacturers Ltd. However, a high proportion of the
carpet trade was in the hands of smaller rms of mainly Armenian origin, such as
Messrs. Kharageuzian, Gulbenkian, and Tafsenjian. By the late 1920s, the
expanding US market for Persian carpets induced some American importers to
send their own representatives to Iran. Competition among buyers had the
effect of raising prices of Persian carpets from all the major producer areas.
A booming market for semi-antique carpets in the United States and Europe
during the 1920s prompted many individual Iranian owners to dispose of their
used carpets at the high prices being offered and replace them with new items.
This served, in turn, as a stimulus for current production of ner quality carpets.
A large part of the growth in Iranian carpet exports at that time consisted of
lower- and medium-grade carpets destined for Germany. Most of the commercial
grades of Persian carpets in the 1920s were made with synthetic dyes, despite an
earlier regulation prohibiting their use. The heightened export demand for
lower-quality carpets had a deleterious impact on Irans carpet industry, which
responded with indifferent designs of modest workmanship.
The Persian carpet economy was hard hit by the Great Depression of the
1930s. As world trade diminished, exorbitant tariffs and other trade restrictions
were imposed in many of the principal markets.
32
The overall impact of the
Depression on the Persian carpet industry was devastating for export-oriented
32
Bharier, Economic Development in Iran, 19001970.
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 71
producers. Prohibitive tariffs imposed by the US and other countries caused
some areas to cease production altogether. In Kerman, which had produced
high-fashion carpets for the US market almost exclusively, production came vir-
tually to a standstill. Production in the Hamadan area, where large quantities of
less expensive qualities had been produced for export, fell by four-fths during
the early 1930s. Iranian government attempts to exercise control over exports
through ofcial monopolies forced many private trading houses out of business.
Paradoxically, trade restrictions put in place during the Depression had made it
more worthwhile to produce higher grade, more luxurious carpets that could be
marketable even at onerous rates of duty. This lent additional stimulus to the
trend towards the production of ner quality products for the relatively
buoyant home market.
As countries scrambled to protect their commercial interests during this econ-
omically depressed era, special exchange agreements were concluded between
Iran and certain other trading partners. Some of the Depression-wrought
arrangements were particularly damaging to the trade in Persian carpets. A
barter agreement between Iran and the Soviet Union allowed the latter special
concessions to procure Iran products at source. Soviet commercial agencies
thereupon proceeded to buy up appreciable quantities of Persian carpets for re-
export to third country markets, taking advantage of exchange-rate differentials
and bilateral barter arrangements. This manipulation of barter and arbitrage
caused considerable damage to established Persian carpet traders faced with dis-
advantageous exchange rates. A contemporary report from Oriental Carpet Man-
ufactures Limited noted that Soviet re-exports of Saruk carpets were selling at
US$1.25 per square foot, wholesale in New York, whereas their own Saruk
line, which represented an important part of their current business, had a produ-
cer cost of US$1.50 (including 50 cents export duty).
By way of contrast with other, more protectionist European countries, Iran
and Switzerland put in place a special counter-trade arrangement which in
effect swapped Persian carpets for Swiss capital goods and equipment and
other manufactures. Thanks to this initiative Switzerland remained the only
major European market that allowed unrestricted importations of high-value
carpets during the Depression years. By virtue of this form of counter-trade,
Persian carpets exports to Switzerland expanded rapidly over the late 1930s,
resulting in a substantial strengthening of that countrys role in the European
carpet trade. One of the major participants in this counter-trade was the late
Soleyman Moradpour, an exporter of Swiss manufactures to Iran in exchange
for ne Persian carpets, whose personal Collection provided examples to illus-
trate the illustrious history of Persian Carpets from the Reza Shah era.
The Depression signicantly altered the direction and merchandise compo-
sition of Irans international trade. By the late 1930s Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union had become Irans leading trading partners, and carpets lost their
historical pre-eminence among non-oil exports. In the year before World War
II came to Iran, the Iranian year 1319 (corresponding to 21 March 1940 to 20
72 Rudner
March 1941), exports of Persian carpets fell to just 2.7 million kg valued at
approximately 1.8 million, compared to 5 million kg in 1925/26. Germany
was Irans largest export market, taking some 47 percent of Persian carpet
exports by value (36 percent by quantity). Other important export markets for
carpets included the United States and Great Britain.
While export volumes decelerated, the emergence within Iran of a new admin-
istrative and economic elite created a home market for ne Persian carpets as a
viable alternative to problematic and volatile international trading arrangements.
Local traditions of craftsmanship and artistry were being bolstered up by efforts
on the part of government and cultural institutions, like the Iran Carpet
Company and Tehran Art School, to raise overall standards of design and
quality of Persian carpet production. The buoyant domestic market for ne
carpets was able to sustain the production of especially high quality, elegant
designs favored by a growing and increasingly prosperous clientele.
The Allied Occupation of Iran, 194145
Iran declared its neutrality upon the outbreak of World War II. Be that as it may,
after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the strong German com-
mercial presence in Iran caused anxiety among the Allied Powers. The urgent
need to transfer war supplies to the Soviets led to a joint decision with the
British to secure their communications through the Persian Gulf. On 26
August 1941, Allied forces entered Iran, with the Soviets taking over the
north of the country and the British the south. Resistance quickly collapsed.
Reza Shah was deposed and sent into exile. He was succeeded by his son,
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
33
The Allied occupation of Iran by the Soviets and British included assurances of
the countrys independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, along with an
undertaking to withdraw within six months of the end of the war. For the dur-
ation, however, specic transit facilities were to be granted to the Allies for the
war effort. In September 1943, Iran declared war on Germany, thereby qualifying
for membership in the United Nations.
The Iranian transit route proved to be of vital importance to the Allied war
effort. In late 1942 the United States also sent a military force to operate the
Trans-Iranian railway line and a parallel truck convoy system from the Gulf to
the north of Iran. Over 5 million tons of war materiel were delivered through
this rail and road network across Iran to the Soviet Union.
As for Iran itself, the wartime occupation was terribly disruptive for the coun-
trys economy. International commercial relations were impeded by the hostili-
ties, making it almost impossible for Iran to acquire its normal import
33
On the Iranian experience of wartime occupation see Steven Ward, The Immortals. A Military
History of Iran and its Armed Forces (Washington, DC, 2009), esp. chap. 6; and Bharier, Economic
Development in Iran 19001970.
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 73
requirements. Transport and communications facilities were taken over by Allied
forces, and government construction and industrial activities were halted. Food
was in short supply and goods of almost every type were scarce. Shortages caused
severe price ination, which was compounded by Allied military expenditures
within the country. Inationary pressures and attendant speculation imposed
great hardship on the lower and middle classes, while fortunes were made by
individuals dealing in scarce items. The presence of foreign troops accelerated
social change and also fueled xenophobic and nationalist sentiments.
The Persian carpet industry, like all else in Iran, was affected by these events.
Wartime disruptions caused a drastic fall in Iranian exports, including of course
carpet exports (see Table 2). Trade links with Germany and occupied Europe
were of course severed by the Allied occupation, and the scarcity of shipping con-
strained access to other established or new markets. The domestic market, on the
other hand, was vastly stimulated by ination and the wartime afuence of the
upper and propertied classes, in particular. In the absence of most other consu-
mer durables, many among the afuent acquired carpets as luxury goods and
stores of value. The demand for ne carpets accelerated with the heightened
wartime prosperity of Irans moneyed elite. Producers responded by concentrat-
ing increasingly on creating exquisite carpets of very ne quality.
Ironically, it was during this period of wartime turmoil that some of the most
illustrious examples of Persian neo-classical carpets were produced.
The Persian Carpet Industry in Historical Retrospect
The Persian carpet industry demonstrated impressive adaptability in responding
with the dramatic changes and challenges that buffeted Iran, domestically and
externally, between 1920 and 1945. Its resilience was evidenced in successive
shifts in production and product composition, in trade and export destinations,
Table 2. Persian Carpet Exports, Select Years 192045
Export Quantity
Export Value
Year (kg., million) (million rials) ( million)
1920/21 2.04 49.9 n.a.
1925/26 5.0 117.6 n.a.
1930/31 4.3 124.7 1.8
1935/36 3.9 119.7 1.5
1940/41 2.7 119.7 1.8
1944/45 0.8 164.4 0.1
Source: Romuald Stettler, Der Persische Handelsteppich (PhD diss, Universitat Bern (Switzerland), 1953 [mimeo]),
50, 54, Tables 10, 11, adapted.
74 Rudner
in design and quality. Unfortunately there is a lack of statistical information on
the production and domestic market for Persian carpets during that period.
The trade data that is available is compiled from various sources, ofcial and
unofcial, lacks internal consistency and perhaps reliability. Nevertheless, some
of the trends that are apparent in the tradable sector were indicative of the
overall trends in Persian carpet production and marketing. These trends are
revealing of how the Persian carpet industry evolved and adapted to challenges,
opportunities and shocks during the Reza Shah era.
Persian carpet exports underwent a substantial growth in volume and value
terms during the rst half of the 1920s, according to available data (Table 2).
Measured in terms of weight, Persias exports of carpets rose from around 2
million kg in 1920/21 to around 5 million kg annually in the middle and late
1920s. This increase in exports was matched, in all likelihood, by a parallel expan-
sion of Persian carpet production. The growth of output and trade is attributable
to the internal stability and economic developments that were achieved under
Reza Shah, coupled with a rebound in world market conditions in the aftermath
of World War I.
As might be expected, the production and export of Persian carpets declined
dramatically during the Great Depression, and especially after 1933, in both
volume and value terms. Despite the depreciation of the Iranian currency, the
major world markets for hand-knotted carpets contracted severely. The down-
ward trend in exports and output continued during World War II, so that by
194445 the export volume of Persian carpets was less than half what it had
been in 1920/21 (Table 2). Export earnings, in terms of foreign exchange, fell
even more sharply. Although precise data is unavailable, it is likely that total
carpet production did not decline as precipitously, and may have stabilized as
an expanding domestic market absorbed an increasing share of total output.
This was also the case, in all probability, with respect to ner quality town
carpets.
This period of trade depression witnessed a shift in the product composition of
the Persian carpet trade, as exports of certain types of carpets grew in relative
importance while others declined. This was reected in the changing share of
total exports contributed by the various centers of Persian carpet production
(Table 3).
According to available data, the share of exports, and probably production, of
Tehran-made rugs declined dramatically between 1930 and 1945. Tabriz, which
had been a leading center of carpet production in the 1920s and 1930s lost much
of its export share when it came under Soviet occupation during World War II.
Kerman carpets, by contrast, gained market share during the 1930s and obtained
an even greater competitive advantage during the war by dint of being in the
British zone of occupation, and close to the American transport facility.
Isfahan and Kashan obtained modest shares of total carpet exports before the
war, and both declined somewhat during the wartime occupation. However,
the overall trend appears to have favored the production and export of higher
The Neo-Classical Era in the Persian Carpet Industry 75
grade Persian town carpets of traditional designs. Less-illustrious carpets from
other localities suffered a considerable loss of export share, from over two-
thirds in 1928/29 to under half in 1940/41, and less than 40 percent in 1944/45.
While trading levels declined after the 1930s, those centers capable of produ-
cing neo-classical designs for elite consumption were able to offset this fall in
exports, at least in part, by redirecting their output to the domestic Iranian
market. Even if the volume of output was less, therefore causing some
unemployment among producers, nevertheless overall producer earnings were
probably sustained by virtue of the higher qualitative standard of domestic-
oriented production.
The history of the Persian carpet during the Reza Shah era demonstrates the
responsiveness and adaptability of producers, designers, and traders dealt
multiple challenges. A revitalized industry successfully met the competing
challenges of a trade boom and depression, of national rebirth and moderni-
zation, of cultural authenticity and artistic creativity. New methods of large-
scale production were developed, artistic traditions were renewed and enhanced,
and product designs were differentiated according to market, taste, and rene-
ment. What was especially remarkable was the ability of the best designers and
workshops to produce carpets of such extraordinary merit in such turbulent cir-
cumstances. It was almost as if these times of crisis engendered a cultured
response that accentuated artistic beauty and technical achievement. Certainly,
the nest products of that turbulent era exemplify a high point in the Persian
carpet arts. From a wider historical perspective, it is clear that the very best
town carpets of the Reza Shah era represented a renewal of a classic Persian
cultural genre, an art form that reected the glories of Persias heritage and its
courtly Imperial associations.
This neo-classical epoch commenced during the reign of Reza Shah, marked by
revitalized a tradition of excellence in Persian carpet design and weaving that
lasted, notwithstanding some market volatility, until faced with the Islamic
Revolution of 1979.
Table 3. Persian Carpet Production By Production Centers, Select Years 192045
(percentage of total quantity exported)
Year Tehran Isfahan Tabriz Kashan Kerman Shiraz Other
1928/29 2.07 0.41 20.36 0.29 4.72 5.01 67.14
1930/31 4.00 1.11 26.96 1.60 5.34 4.72 56.27
1935/36 1.05 1.39 22.29 5.61 10.43 7.82 51.41
1940/41 0.25 0.90 32.26 3.28 10.21 6.47 46.63
1944/45 0.04 0.18 17.97 2.88 25.72 14.98 38.23
Source: Romuald Stettler, Der Persische Handelsteppich (PhD diss, Universitat Bern (Switzerland), 1953 [mimeo]),
155157, Table 25, adapted.
76 Rudner
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