SULTANABAD DISTRICT, WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1880

The field design of this magnificent Ziegler carpet has a very long ancestry. As so often with carpet designs it originates with the weavers in 17th century Kirman who designed a series of carpets with fields covered with interlocking arabesques enclosing floral sprays. Again in common with other Kirman designs, a close variant on this design began to be woven in North West Persia in the 18th century. By the 19th century it was so well associated with the north west that it has picked up the name "Garrus", a small weaving center near to Bijar in western Iran. But it was not just woven there. It lends itself very well to the demands of the European interior in the second half of the 19th century, and as a result many examples are found in country houses in Britain and western Europe.