Qum, Central Persia
The Qum carpets come from the city of Qum, 132 km south of Tehran. Today, Qum is one of the larger cities in Persia with over 1.3 million inhabitants.
It is now documented that the first settlements in Qum were built as early as 4000 BC. From the 10th century onwards, Qum developed into an important centre for Shiite scholarship. In the same epoch Fatima al-Masuma, the sister of the eighth Imam, died here. Therefore, in Qum is also a magnificent shrine with a golden dome which is dedicated to Fatima al-Masuma.
The most important economic goods from Qum are pottery, glass, cotton, textiles and especially carpets. Famous are the precious silk carpets with more than 1 mio. knots per m2, which are produced in manufactories as well as in homework. The processing of the very best mulberry silk results in one of the highest quality silk carpets of our time. Common patterns are garden, medallion or figure patterns in plant and animal form and especially the portrayal of hunting scenes. The most famous families are, among others, Mir Mehdi, Mohammadi , Bigham and Kamal which have been creating the best quality silk rugs in the last decades.