City Of Naein

Naein Carpet, a Symbol of Good Persian Carpet

In this troubled world where wars and genocide have become an every-day reality, there are people and places that have been lucky enough to lead a peaceful life and engage in various productive activities in the pursuit of their aspirations, leaving a rich heritage of love and devotion to aesthetic creation. Naein is one of such places in the world that is specially endeared. Although the enviable calmness of the city today does not dispel the memory of past hostile

attacks on Isfahan and neighbouring regions especially Naein, the very artistic legacy of the city strongly suggests that there have been long periods of peace, happiness and creativity. The old and comparatively intact structure of the city changed very little inthe course of history, may be seen not as a guard against the on-going current of civilization, but as a guardian of a genuine culture and a deep spirituality that have served as a mainstay for a quiet, humane life. The beautiful ancient city of Naein lies on the foothills of Zard-kuk mountain range, between Yazd and Ardestan,on the western wing of the Kavir desert, with the city of Isfahan to the south-west. Though Naein is generally a desert region, a relatively high mountain range to the south-west gives it a temperate climate. While Naein was known to belong to fars province in the medieval ages, some history writers have ascribed the city to Yazd, and yet others have referred

to it as part of Isfahan.However, in later times and up until the beginning of the rule of Nassereddin Shah, Naein was a Yazd provincial town, but was later incorporated again in the province of Isfahan.As to the origin of the name, some are of the opinion that Naein is a derivative of the Persian word ney or nay meaning "cane" that usually grows on marshland.

Pattern and Design. The most original patterns used in Naein carpets are composed of those traditionally recognized as Shah-Abbasi (with floral and leaf motifs mainly in the form of lotus blossoms),eslimi (arabesque) corner-medallion , ornate pendants and other patterns associated with Iranian traditional folk arts. Such proper use of traditional patterns with special colouring has won Naein carpet a distinction - an extraordinary identity - that is recognized the world over. There are other traditional patterns and designs artistically worked into the carpet that are referred to by special terms in the Persian artslexicon,for example: gonbad (i.e., dome , depicting the inner surface of a dome),Haj Khanomi(depicting a window to garden) ,derakhti (tree forms), ghabi(panel), mehrabi(mihrab or nitche), moharramat (featuring parallel,usually vertical stripes), afshan(overall repetition), latchak-toranj (corner-edallion),katibe'i (inscription) and tarikhi (historical monuments).

The limited size of the city and its short history of carpet weaving make it impossible to give a long list of distinguished designers for Naein as is possible for big cities like Isfahan and Tabriz.Yet Naeini artists are worthy of praise for their maste rful assimilation of patterns from other regions into their carpets. Nevertheless,certain murmurs in recent years contending lack of variety in Naein carpet made the designers initiate innovations:

using a wider range of patterns , especially traditional ones,and adding new products such as kenareh (runners) and carpets round ,hexagonal or octagonal in shape. In their new venture,the laborious Naeini designers demonstrated their striking ability to retain the distinct spirit and identity of their carpets. 

Dyeing. Naein carpetis a brilliant example of the application of natural and traditional colours, owing a major portion of its reputation to its vegetal But regrettable as it is , by ignorance or need , many a dyer in the region

has opened the door of his workshop and vat to a variety of synthetic dyes about which he knows little or nothing. Save for minor differences , the dyeing method with natural dyes in Naein is similar to the methods in orther carpet weaving centres that use traditional dyes.

Despite the supplementary use of synthetic dyes in limited quantities, natural dyes have maintained their dominance in the whole region. Of the colours used in Naein carpet, eleven are basic and four subsidiary.

Natural colours are obtained in major part from pomegranate peel, walnut crust, madder roots, weld and vine leaves as well as from qermezdaneh - the insect cochineal , which is a major source of red pigment , and which lends its Persian name to "crimson". Industrially produced indigo (indigotin) is usually used for tones of blue and azure. Yellow is obtained from weld , a mixture of weld and indigo yields green, brownish ("rat") grey is made from pomegranate peel, and orange from a combination of weld and madder roots.

 Acetic acid is a supplementary substance in dyeing yarns (earlier , lemon peel and qaraqorut - boiled, thichened whey - containing the acid were used for the purpose) Potash alum is used as dye mordant.

Formerly, qermezdaneh (cochineal) had mutch wider application in Naein carpet and is still in use today - though not so widely - for its appeal and fame. 

The high price and low supply of cochineal have raised the demand for synthetic dyes for crimson,and this may well be the reason for the gradual shift from the brilliant ruby reds in earlier Naein carpets to the brownish reds of the later times.

Weave and Finish. Naein carpets have Farsi knots and double weft.The weave is done with high technical precision: normal weaving flaws such as off-line twists, missing wefts,uneven weaves, off-shade colours and wrong knots are seen very seldom and the quality of production is of high standard. Clearly, our reference to Naein carpet in this book is solely directed at the type of carpet that falls in the "excellent" category in domestic and international markets,given that such factors as the quality of the weave , the stability of the colours and the durablity of the texture all play a significant role in this classification.

Persian carpet is a commodity developed with simple , primitive technique using materials and dyes found in nature, and evolved,through the indigernous, ethnic, regional, social and historical traits of its human creator - the weaver - not into pure art, but into a phenomenon so unique as though it were impervious to time or aging. For the lovers of Persian carpet, the repetitive birth of pomegranate blossoms on the ever scrolling arabesque stems is a

 rebirth of life that carries into your home the warmth of vitality and eternality on a plane of magic ethereal colours. A  carpet is an incarnation of immortality and a realization of the lost dreams that harbour the memory of the peaceful life of the remote past , beyond time.

It is not surprising that the material and spiritual utility of a carpet does not die with age or decay - a fact that would not be possible without the transfer of a wealth of intellectual and emotional values and identity onto the texture of the carpet by the weaver. This makes it easier for us to better understand why the conventional definition of art becomes inapplicableto such a phenomenon, and how sometimes a small, scarcely patterned carpet woven by a village woman in the creative solitude of her rural cottage is acclaimed as a priceless masterpiece by art critics and carpet scholars.

As stated earlier , a carpet does not fit into the framework of art in any of its conventional classifications.Yet today,a great many of objects are beginevaluated for their artistic worth while their markers had no artistic notion when they first set about making them. There are countless instances that show how a commodity or object that was intended for normal daily use later gained an artistic value associatedwith the cultural identity that it once acquired from its original place of make.

Types and Quantities of Production

There are some 20,000 weaving looms in Naein region with an annul output of about 120,000 square metres from which only 45,000 square metres meet the superior quality standards. Assuming that out of the remaining 75,000 square metres 50% qualify for begin of acceptable quality , then the low-quality portion will be as high as 30% of the total production.

In Naein , and to a lesser degree in Khur, the literacy rate and the level of education among weavers is comparatively higher. Men are often quite supportive of their wives , if not working with them at the looms (which is particularly the case in Naein city where men are mostly employed in government offices or run their own businesses).

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