A Comparative Study on the Technical and Visual Features of Na’in Carpets with the Emigrated Ones

Na’in carpet is an eclectic mixture of Kerman and Arak carpets’ style, which in a short time established an independent identity on the basis of indigenous components and became known as a distinct style from other types. However, the expansion of production beyond the city boundaries caused changes in it, so that in many cases, due to the apparent similarities, this carpet style has led to ambiguities. In fact, such carpets with all their differences from the original source are marketed under the same name of Na’in original products. The purpose of this research is to make a comparison between the original Na’in carpets and those woven in other areas with qualitative and visual changes. The main questions are as follows: What was the effect of Na’in carpet’s displacement on the main structures of this hand-woven textile? And what is the criterion for final evaluation of such carpets? The issue is significant from the perspective that a variety of carpets in the form of luxurious and well-known styles and from earlier historical periods have been produced in Iran, but none of them have crossed their geographical borders widely, like what happened to the Na’in carpet. Other carpets have actually been produced and marketed in the same native areas, but Na’in carpet with large-scale production not only has been produced in Na’in city, but also in many other geographical areas that are famous for producing Iranian hand-woven carpets, such as South Khorassan, Mazandaran, Shiraz, Isfahan, etc. In fact, some regions have embarked upon producing Na’in carpets which have a special and exclusive style of Iranian carpets by their own. This issue is important and necessary to investigate for the reason that Na’in style of carpet weaving produced in areas other than this city bears in many cases only superficial similarities with genuine carpets. Such secondary textiles are far from Na’in carpets in terms of quality, but they have been marketed under the title of Nain carpet. This issue has caused serious damage to the original carpets. The research methodology in this article is descriptive-analytical with a comparative approach. The scope of research incorporates the generality of Na’in carpet as a well-known style in the Iranian carpet field. The comparison in this scope is based on two groups of carpets produced in Na’in and those produced in the style of Na’in in other regions. The method of collecting data in here is based on observation as well as studying the few written sources. The results of the research show that the displacement of Na’in carpet from its native place has led to changes in the quality of such hand-woven textiles, the type of knots, dyeing, etc., so that the fibers have been reduced from grade 1 to grade 2 and 3. Knots have changed from fārsi-ye tak-bāft (single-woven Persian type) to jofti-bāfi (knots in pairs) and U knot, and the dyeing of 90% of fibers in other areas has converted to chemical. Finally, the lack of order and organization in production and lack of proper knowledge and expertise in the market have led to the replacement of substandard carpets with the genuine Na’in products. However, in some new places, such as Mazandaran, the production of Na’in carpet has increased in quality, which has exerted marked effects on the production and export of the original Na’in carpets.