A Comparative Study of Design, Pattern and Color in Kelardasht Carpet with Senneh Carpet

Hodud al-Ālam (Boundaries of the World), a geography book from the 3rd century AH/ AD 9th century is the first source that refers to the act of weaving carpets in Tabarestan, northern Iran. This book regards the Tabari carpet as a product of that region to the court of the Abbasid caliphs; however the oldest carpet of Tabarestan known is the Kelardasht carpet. There are four theories about the formation of Kelardasht carpet. Some consider it as the Tabari carpet mentioned in Hodud al-Ālam. Others consider the formation of this carpet as a result of migration of Kurdish tribes to the region in the 13th century AH/ AD 19th century, hence being independent of the Tabari carpet. There is still another theory suggesting that Tabari carpets have been influenced by Kurdish ones and what observed today is the Kurdish carpet with an origin of Tabari carpets of the early Islamic centuries. The last theory in this regard introduces the origin of Kelardasht carpet as a blend of different cultures of the western regions of Iran brought to Kelardasht through the immigrants. Accordingly, this research is conducted to examine the mentioned theories and to question how much the designs, motifs and colors in Kelardasht carpet match with the Senneh Kurdish carpet? Adopting a comparative and analytical-descriptive methodology, the present article seeks to answer the abovementioned question on the basis of field study in Kelardasht carpet, and to make a comparison of which with the original samples of the Senneh carpet on the basis of library sources. The purpose of this study is to compare the design and structure of Kelardasht carpet with Senneh carpet. The study shows that the general structure and design of Kelardasht carpets are similar to those of the Senneh carpets. Incidentally, some of the designs of Kelardasht and Senneh carpets are similar to each other as well. These two carpets have significant similarities in terms of number of margins, symmetrical structure, arrangement of motifs and number of colors used on the main surface and margins.