Mashad carpet

Mashad carpet

Khorassan province, eastern Persia

early 20th century

Size: 512 x 350 cm

Next to Isfahan, Mashad is described as the most beautiful city in Persia. 

This old Mashad carpet is of very fine quality with superb wool and a beautifully drawn allover design of stylised vases with floral bouquets on an unusual yellow ground. The dyes of Mashad carpets have traditionally been dominated by a cochineal pink/red. It was used in virtually no other part of Persia so extensively, except in the province of Kirman, and is a distinguishing feature of carpets from the Khorassan province.