The basic art of rug making and weaving started and developed in regions of south Asia during the period when there were very few civilizations that employed it. When the ancient cities of Indus Valley civilization, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were excavated there were remains of spindles which were being used by the inhabitants during their period to spun wide varieties of weaving materials. There are few historians that consider Indus Valley Civilization to be the first people who developed the method of using woven textiles.
Hand knotted rugs of India are at present the most successful and in demand industry and these rugs are exported in large chunks every year making them the 1st largest manufacturer in the cottage and small industry sector. The craftsmen of India are very much able and expert in creating carpets of any sort pattern and type. They produce rugs which have varied styles and designs of motifs of gulls, medallions, paisleys, geometric signs, traceries, curves and various sorts of such different combinations.
Despite having so many types of rugs all over the world, Persian carpets have always been in high demand and are considered to be of the finest quality. Iran which produces the Persian rugs is the world’s largest manufacturer as well as exporter of handmade rugs. They occupy about 1/3rd share of the total output of the world and 305 of the world’s export. They are considered to be a part of the Persian culture and art form and their weaving method and art ship goes back to Bronze Age. The largest handmade carpet in the world measuring 60,546 square feet was made by Iran.
Although the earliest surviving corpus of Oriental rugs dates back to 16th century when Persia was ruled by the Safayid Dynasty from 1501-1736, the painted depictions found there proves that its history of production far more older than that. In fact even classical rugs made during 16th century and those made in 17th century has much differences in its design and patterns. These rugs has common motifs weaved into it which include scrolling vine networks, medallions, arabesques, palmettos, cloud bands and geometric symbols overlapped into it rather than any kind of animals or humans.
The Iranian culture and Islam religion strongly forbids such kind of depictions which is why they couldn’t be seen. There are designs and styles have been copied from designs of other countries by weavers, which is why there are still images or figures engaging in hunting and feasting scenes which can be seen in their carpets. Most of their carpets are made of wool and there are several others made of silk are also there which were produced in kashan. The typical design of Persian rugs uses four set patterns which are all-over, compartment, one-sided and central medallion. Though you will sometimes find few with abstract asymmetrical designs but they can always be described as being unidirectional or one-sided.