Neyshabur Handwoven Carpet

What are the characteristics of Neyshabur handwoven carpet?

Neyshabur is one of the historical cities of Khorasan province, which, despite many ups and downs in its history, is very rich and progressive in terms of culture and art. Currently, most of the carpets available in the market of Mashhad are produced in Neyshabur. In this article, we are going to introduce the characteristics of the hand-woven carpet of the historical city of Neyshabur.

Historical and geographical characteristics of Neyshabur city

The past history of Neyshabur is very painful and instructive. A city that was invaded by foreign tribes several times during its eventful history and was severely damaged. The Mongols carried out brutality, murder and looting in this city and in addition to massacring the people, they flooded it for several days and nights and razed it to the ground. But its glory and greatness at present shows the perseverance of its strong-willed and artistic people, who through different eras, their land has been the place of growth and upbringing of a number of elders and scholars, especially famous poets of Iran. The existence of the graves of great poets such as Omar Khayyam and Attar Neyshaburi, as well as the famous painter Kamal al-Molk, is proof of this claim. Neishabor is currently 140 kilometers west of Mashhad, which is bounded by Mashhad from the east, Guchan and Esfrain from the north, Sabzevar from the west, and Kashmir from the south. In the early Islamic period, Neishabor was considered one of the most important pottery centers in Iran. In addition, textile arts and carpet weaving have also grown and expanded significantly in this city. In the following, we will describe the characteristics of Neyshabur handwoven carpets.

Textile background in Neyshabur

Considering the history of Neyshabur, it should be said that the people of this city have had a special skill in native and traditional industries, especially textile and cloth weaving, since ancient times. Istakhari, a famous historian, has mentioned in his book about the silk clothes and thin and delicate canvases of this region. It is stated in Hudud al-Alam: Various clothes are obtained from Neyshabur, and its wool is isolated from a place that includes thirteen villages and four khans. Moghadisi also wrote about it: white cloths, Shahjani turbans, silk tapestry and hairy and well-spun cloths are exported from it. Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan traveler, while visiting this city in the 8th century, mentioned silk fabrics such as cotton and kumkha, etc., which were woven in that city and sent to India for sale. It is also mentioned in the travelogue of Khorasan that there were sixteen weaving houses in this city where silk fabric was found.

History of carpet weaving in Neyshabur

According to the studies, the date of the beginning of carpet weaving and its expansion in Neyshabur goes back to the years after World War II, i.e. around 1318 to 1324 AH. At that time, there was a caravanserai in the place of the current building of the property of this city, where workshops for carpet weaving were established, and skilled craftsmen from nearby cities such as Sabzevar and Kashmar were invited to Neishabor. But their activity did not last long and after two or three years their workshops were practically closed. From this time, masters such as Habibullah Fakur and Hossein Gulabtoni started their activities, who are famous and known as pioneers and founders of contemporary carpet weaving in Neyshabur. The history of contemporary Neyshabur carpet developments can be divided into two distinct periods. In the following, we will examine each of these two key periods in the development of carpet weaving in Neyshabur.  
The first period of hand-woven carpet production in Neyshabur: This period began with the beginning and expansion of carpet weaving in this city and continued until the beginning of the 1350s. The use of vegetable dyes for dyeing the carpet fibers and as a result the remarkable stability and beauty of the woven carpets are one of the most important characteristics of the hand-woven carpets of the first period in Neyshabur. During this period, carpet weaves with large dimensions such as 12, 18 and even 24 meters were common in this city, and the carpet count was often between 30 and 40 knots per 6.5 cm. Imitation of the special designs of Mashhad was another major feature of Neyshabur carpets in the first period. The use of all-over spray designs, which can be seen in the text and the border of Shah Abbasi's large flowers, as well as underground designs in which the designs of objects such as jars, vases, bowls, and other antique objects are woven, are among the most common carpet designs of this period.  
The second period of carpet weaving in Neyshabur: from the beginning of the 1350s of Hijri, according to the requests of buyers and their changing tastes, a wave of transformation and fundamental changes began in the carpet weaving industry of Neyshabur, and of course, it must be said that the products of this period had more of a commercial aspect than an artistic aspect. Beauty. In this period, the texture of original Khorasan maps was abandoned and crude imitation of Kashan, Nain and Varamin designs, especially the Minakhani design of Varamin, became popular. This change happened because the market for selling Kashan and Nain carpets was very prosperous in the market and these designs had many fans; For this reason, the weavers of Neyshaburi started imitating the carpets of these regions. During this period, the number of carpets also decreased to some extent, and as a result, the carpets were degraded in terms of elegance. In addition, in this period, the use of chemical dyes for dyeing carpet fibers became common in Neyshabur, which reduces the stability and color quality of carpets to some extent. In general, it should be said that the older Neyshabur carpets (first period) were at a higher level in terms of originality, beauty and quality.

Technical and appearance characteristics of today's Neyshabur carpets

Draw:

In today's hand-woven Neyshabur carpets, the tufting is often done in the Turkish style and on a loom.

Raj Shomar:

Most of today's Neyshabur carpets have a count between 25 and a maximum of 35. But in some cases, carpets with a higher index can also be seen.

Shirazehbafi:

Most of the Neyshabur handwoven carpets have separate shiraz. In this way, after the weaving is finished and the carpet is lowered from the hanger, its two sides are twisted.

the payment:

All Neyshabur carpets are polished after finishing the weaving and using large electric scissors to make the piles uniform and of the same size.

Type:

Currently, the dars used in Neyshabur and its surrounding areas are generally vertical and fixed. Older dars are made of wood, and newer dars are made of metal.

Node type:

Persian knot is used to weave modern Neyshabur carpets. But other types of knots, such as Persian twin, knotless weaving, etc., can also be seen in the Neyshabur carpet.

Carpet weaving:

All Neyshabur carpets have Persian carpet weaving. In this way, the beginning and end of the fabric is woven around 4 to 5 cm using a thick weft.

How to weave:

All Neyshabur carpets are double weft (one thick weft and one thin weft). Therefore, most of these carpets tend to be all-round. In addition, the method of multiple folds (removing the thin weft and adding it after a few rows of the weave) has also become popular in Neyshabur in recent years.

Dimensions:

Neyshaburi weavers tend to weave carpets in large dimensions such as 6 and 9 square meters. Among the prominent and unique carpets of Neyshabur, we can mention three exquisite carpets in very large dimensions of 7000, 5000 and 2800 meters, which are currently spread in the mosques of the Arab countries on the Persian Gulf. These exquisite carpets are woven in the villages of Yusefabad, Baghshan and... Neyshabur.

Design and color:

Neyshabur carpets are now often woven in afshan and lakh tanraj designs. The dominant color in Neyshabur carpets is cream. The raw materials used to weave today's Neyshabur carpets are mostly wool and silk for pile, and cotton fibers for warp and weft. But one of the threats and defects that the Neyshabur carpet has suffered in recent years is that, unfortunately, some producers in this region use synthetic fibers for carpet weaving, and knotless weaving has become popular in several villages of this city. There are carpet defects that are unfortunately seen in Neyshabur carpets and some other parts of Iran.

The most important carpet weaving areas around Neyshabur

The villages of Greene, Der Roud, Baghshan, Khoro Alia Barghan, Seyed Abad, Sarchah, Madan and Soleimani, Ishaq Abad and Sultan Abad are among the most important carpet weaving centers in Neyshabur. Also, the large villages of Safi Abad and Bam, despite being located in the area of ​​Esfrain city, are considered to be major centers of Neyshaburi carpet production.

Carpet designer and producer masters in Neyshabur

Hossein Gulabtoni, Habibullah Fakur and Gholamreza Mazdoor were the most famous old producers of the exquisite and famous carpets of Neyshabur. Currently, Mr. Fakhri, Hajiabadi, Aliabadi and Neyshabur Rural Carpet Cooperative are active in the production of handwoven carpets in this area. Mr. Bagheri and Mr. Fakour can also be mentioned among the prominent designers of Neyshabur carpets.

Final word

The beautiful and historical city of Neyshabur is currently one of the active areas of carpet production in Khorasan province. The carpets produced in this city are often inspired by the carpets of Mashhad, and have afshan or lach and tanraj designs. Also, the texture of carpets similar to Kashan, Nain and Varamin are also common in Neyshabur. If you visit Mashhad's handwoven carpet market, you can see a large number of Neyshabur handwoven carpets among these carpets.

You can inquire about  Buying Handwoven Carpets ,  Buying Handwoven Kilim and Mats , and Buying Handwoven Pictorial Rug Tableaus online from the Hoveida Carpet Store and register all your orders and Wherever you are in the world, deliver it to the desired address in less than 4 working days.  

If you are interested in reading other articles in the field of  Handwoven carpets or  Handwoven Pictorial Rug Tableaus , please refer to Hoveida Carpet  Commercial