Afshar Sirjan

Afshar Sirjan rugs are hand-knotted Persian rugs made by the Afshar tribes in the region around the town of Sirjan in the south-eastern Persian province of Kerman. They belong to the finer variants of the large Afshar family and combine geometric tribal motifs with the more careful execution of settled workshops. Defining traits are the clear diamond medallion, vivid natural dyes and a dense, firm structure.

What is an Afshar Sirjan rug?

An Afshar Sirjan is a hand-knotted rug of the Afshar, knotted in the area around Sirjan between Kerman and Shiraz. Characteristic are the symmetric Turkish knot, a vigorous virgin wool pile usually on a cotton warp, and geometric patterns with diamond medallions, boteh and animal motifs. The qualifier Sirjan distinguishes these pieces from the freer pure-tribal Afshar and refers to the market town through which the goods of the region entered the trade. Within the Persian knotting tradition the Afshar Sirjan counts as a village-workshop tribal rug.

Origin

The Afshar are an old Turkic tribal confederation whose knotting tradition reaches back to the 16th century. Originally settled in north-western Persia and the Caucasian foothills, parts of the Afshar were resettled to south-eastern Persia under the Safavids from the 16th century onwards, where they established themselves in the Kerman region. Over generations many of these groups became sedentary.

The town of Sirjan lies about 180 kilometres north-west of the provincial capital Kerman, on an old trade route between Kerman and Shiraz. It was the central market at which the rugs of the surrounding Afshar villages came together and entered the trade under the name Afshar Sirjan. The fertile plain and the settled way of life allowed for fixed knotting frames and thereby a more refined, more regular knotting in comparison with freely migrating nomadic pieces.

Patterns and colours

Afshar Sirjan rugs usually show a clear, geometrically drawn diamond medallion at the centre, often tiered or accompanied by angular pendants. The field is filled with stylised flowers, the boteh motif and, occasionally, animal and bird motifs from the tribal tradition. All-over variants with a small-scale boteh or flower grid are also widespread.

The colour palette is bold and high-contrast: deep indigo blue, saturated madder red, ivory, golden yellow and occasionally green. The plant dyes are clearly set against one another, which gives the patterns their lively, sharp drawing. Characteristic are the serrated, densely filled borders with repeating geometric elements. Overall the Afshar Sirjan feels compact and dense, with clear lines rather than flowing floral curves.

Material and knotting technique

The pile consists of vigorous, often slightly glossy virgin wool from local flocks, which is valued for its quality. The warp is mostly cotton; in older pure-tribal pieces it is also wool, and the weft is predominantly cotton.

The Afshar Sirjan is knotted with the symmetric Turkish knot, also called the Ghiordes knot, which is traditionally widespread among the Afshar tribes and favours the firm, geometric drawing. Dyeing was traditionally done with natural dyes from plant and mineral sources; today high-quality synthetic colours are also used. How a rug is made from the setting of the warp to the shearing of the pile is explained in the production overview.

Knot density and quality

The knot density of an Afshar Sirjan typically lies between 100,000 and 200,000 knots per square metre. That makes these rugs more finely knotted than many freely migrating nomadic pieces, which is what makes the clear contours of the diamond medallion and the boteh motifs possible in the first place. A higher density allows for sharper drawing, but wool grade, natural dyeing and evenness of knotting are just as decisive for quality. What knot density says about quality and price is treated in its own article.

A good indicator of quality is the wool: a vigorous, slightly glossy yarn with good spring suggests a high-quality piece. Clearly separated, saturated natural dyes without garish tones are a further sign of careful work.

Afshar Sirjan in comparison

Provenance / type	Relation to Afshar Sirjan	Typical features
Afshar	umbrella term and tribal group	collective name for Afshar rugs, diamond and boteh motifs
Afshar Sirjan	settled variant around Sirjan	clear diamond medallion, finer, symmetric knot
Sharbabak	neighbouring town, Afshar-influenced	workshop quality, Afshar diamonds, Kerman region
Kerman	urban rug from the same province	curvilinear-floral, fine manufactory goods
Shiraz	tribal rug from the neighbouring Fars region	more loosely knotted, nomadic, Qashqai tradition
pure tribal Afshar	freely migrating variant	coarser, freer drawing, often woollen warp

What is an Afshar Sirjan rug worth?

The value of an Afshar Sirjan depends above all on age, condition, size, knot density, wool quality and dyeing. As the finer Afshar variant with workshop character these rugs often lie slightly above the very simple nomadic qualities, but generally remain more affordable than the fine urban rugs from Kerman or Isfahan. Well-preserved older pieces with clear natural dyes and a clean diamond medallion are sought after by collectors of tribal rugs.

Orientation for value assessment is given by the value overview, the article on recognising valuable Persian rugs and the buying guide.

How do you recognise a genuine Afshar Sirjan rug?

Reliable indicators of a genuine Afshar Sirjan are:

• Clear, geometric diamond medallion with angular pendants, often tiered.
• Boteh and animal motifs from the tribal tradition in the field.
• Symmetric Turkish knot: the back shows the geometric pattern clearly.
• Vivid, high-contrast natural dyes in indigo, madder, ivory and yellow.
• Dense, compact structure with firm knotting and slightly glossy wool.
• Fringes as part of the warp, usually firmly knotted in, not sewn on afterwards.

A machine imitation betrays itself by a uniform, glued-on back and by flat, lifeless yarn. The detailed inspection is described in Is my rug genuine?; a general introduction is given in the recognising overview.

Care

Thanks to the robust wool and the dense knotting the Afshar Sirjan is easy to care for and hard-wearing. Regular vacuuming in the pile direction and the occasional professional cleaning preserve the quality. Lift stains immediately with clear water, without rubbing, and avoid aggressive cleaning agents in order to spare the natural dyes. Long direct sunlight bleaches the colours. Detailed notes are given in the care overview.