They might be oriental but they may not be Persian

They might be oriental but they may not be Persian

Christiani Tumelap, Contributor, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Are you sure that the beautiful flowery-designed
carpet you've just bought is the real oriental carpet you've been
looking for?

It is possible that you're among the many people who have
taken home fake oriental carpets because they didn't really know
what they've bought.

"People think that carpets with a typical floral or medallion
design are all oriental," said oriental carpet trader Ahmad
Mahmoudian.

The oriental carpets are those produced by people in Asian
countries, especially Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India
and China. They are knotted strictly by hand, not by machine.

He said of the oriental carpets available on the market, those
from Iran, known as Persian carpets, are the most popular and in
high demand.

The typical Persian floral and medallion designs, in fact,
originated from Iran, he said.

Ahmad, who is of Iranian descent, has been in the oriental
carpet business for twenty years here and abroad. He said
carpetmakers outside Iran could produce a fine copy of the
Persian designs because some of them might have lived in Iran.

It's not easy to distinguish a handmade Persian carpet from,
for example, those made in Pakistan or Iraq because they have the
same designs and colors.

"But if you take a closer look, and feel it, you'll find that
the workmanship of the Persian carpet clearly exceeds the others.
Persian carpets also have a far richer color scheme," said Ahmad,
whose store is in the Fatmawati area of South Jakarta and sells
only Iranian-made carpets.

Another major oriental carpet trader, Chaudhry Ayub, conceded
that Persian carpets were the best oriental carpet to buy.

"Carpetmakers from other countries produce carpets with
designs similar to the typical Persian design, especially the
ardebil, dome and parsley boteh patterns, because they know that
the market loves Persian carpets," said Chaudhry, who runs his
store on Jl. Panglima Polim.

Chaudhry said Pakistan, China and India, especially Kashmir,
had their own original designs. Pakistan, for example, has the
popular "tree of life" designed carpet, which is mostly dominated
by blue, beige or rustic colors and produced mainly in the city
of Lahore, he said.

While genuine Chinese carpets usually highlight the image of
dragons in their weavings, he said. The original designs of the
Chinese carpets come in red, blue or pastel-dominated colors and
are mostly made of silk or wool.

But not many of these carpets can be found on the market
because many carpetmakers in China produce the Persian-looking
pieces to better suit market demand, Chaudhry said.

"Other countries may produce carpets with similar designs and
patterns, but the real Persian carpets made in Iran still
outshine them due to the excellent workmanship of Iran's
carpetmakers," he added.

In order to avoid spending a large amount of money on a fake
oriental carpet, here are some shopping tips to take with you
when you go shopping:

* Oriental carpets are hand-knotted weavings produced primarily
in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, India or China.
Beware of tufted carpets from China: They are not in the same
category because they use hand-operated tools.

* Oriental carpets are usually named after the area where they
are produced. Persian carpets are divided into two types, city
and tribal. The most famous city product comes from an area
called Tabriz, and the finest tribal carpets come from Bijar
village.

* The city carpets mostly have floral or medallion designs, while
the tribal ones use more geometrical patterns. The city carpets
are usually more expensive because they use silk and more long-
lasting chemical ingredients in the coloring, while tribal
carpets usually use vegetable or fruit-based dyes.

* The real oriental carpets are not sewn up on the back and do
not have canvas glued on the back either. Look for a fringe on
the end of the warp strings that run from one end of the carpet
to the other.

* Real oriental carpets from any of the countries mentioned above
may be made of 100 percent wool, wool on cotton, silk, or silk on
cotton. No genuine oriental carpet is made of nylon,
polypropylene, synthetic fiber, acrylic or polyester.

* To distinguish a real oriental carpet from the rest you should
lay it side-by-side with other look-alike carpets. The real one
should reflect a sheer and rich shade of colors. A high quality
Persian carpet will have different shades of colors if you're
looking at it from different angles.

* Touch the carpets and walk on them. A real Persian carpet
should give you the softest, most luxurious feel to your hands
and feet.

* Check the density of the tufts. The denser, the better. Check
also the winding of the yarn. The tighter the twist, the better
its durability.

* Just to give you a bearing on the price, a 2 x 3 meter Persian
carpet of the famous handmade Tabriz design is about Rp 10
million (US$1,000), while a Persian Nain-designed carpet sells
for about Rp 500,000.