Kurdish rugs are as diverse as the ethnic weavers who created them. Kurdish groups traditionally populate Turkey’s eastern border, northern Iraq, eastern Persia, and small areas near the eastern Persian borders. Kurdish rugs are handcrafted by people in Iranian Kurdistan, and the West Azerbaijan province, in western Iran.
There are several subgroups among Kurdish artists such as the Jaff, and Sanjabi, that produce their own designs. Antique Kurdish rugs often feature elegant curvy bushes, superb herati motifs, memling guls, and exquisite flowers. Their style ranges from formal to casual.
The designs are varied, and the colors exuberant. The color of the Kurdish rugs is superb, with shades of terracotta, burnt orange, blue, green, and saffron yellow. These color effects are greatly enhanced by the lustrous, silky wool that Kurdish weavers often used.
Rug patterns and symbols used by Kurdish artists came to be used by neighboring artists. From graphic styles to beautiful colors, and iconic patterns, antique Kurdish rugs have numerous features that make them highly desirable. Until recently, Kurdish rugs were essentially an unrecognized genre of rug production. Most of them were confused with rugs from other neighboring peoples.
Nowadays, the production of Kurdish rugs is better understood, making the difference between the Turkish, Caucasian, and Persian rug productions clearly different from Kurdish rugs. Kurdish populations remain widely distributed across the Middle East and Central Asia. Although they have their own language, their culture tends to absorb the local characteristics from where they live.
Kurdish rugs from Anatolia have designs and techniques similar to Turkish, just as Kurds from East Anatolian, and Caucasian regions, produced rugs similar to Caucasian, while those from Persia made rugs similar to Persians. But all together, the rugs produced by Kurds have a special set of qualities that distinguish them from the larger context in which they were made. These qualities are consistent and clearly discernible, and that’s what sets them apart.
The quality of rugs produced by Persian Kurds differs from those made by Kurds across the border – Iraq and Turkey. Eclectic, featuring Persian influence in both design and quality, the Kurdish Persian rug is a thinner, more knitted and less tribal rug – the threads are trimmed almost like classic Persian rugs. The geographic position within Iran is another factor: in the north, Kurdish rugs often incorporate large geometric figures in the central field, often seen in the Karabagh style, while in the south, rugs may feature an arboreal design with flowering shrubs, arranged in rows – more typical of the Persian style.
