InANTIQUES | BLOSSOM DESIGNS

In that period, Persian rug weaving started to become more oriented to Western tastes and sensibilities, while retaining cultural cues and connections to the Persian weavers who were creating them, and became increasingly integral to the Persian social expression in many ways.

The paisley motif has visual connections to floral blossoms, pine cones, and cypress trees, all popular floral elements in their own rights, but in addition to that, also has additional connections to almonds, beauty, eyes, tears, fertility, and parenthood. All of this rich symbolism gave the simple paisley design many layers of meaning in the Persian culture from which they regularly were being woven.

A variant of the paisley design that exhibits the latter references to parenthood and fertility are the “mother and child” designs, in which a smaller paisley element is embedded within a larger paisley element. These “mother and child” rugs are particularly prized by rug collectors, both for their rich cultural significance, and for the manual dexterity required by the weavers to articulate these motifs in their masterful hand woven creations.

Boteh Designs In Antique Rugs

Earlier, we discussed the difference between floral and geometric rugs, with floral rugs being more sophisticated and curvilinear, and being woven in cities, and geometric rugs being more simple and rudimentary, and being woven in villages and tribes.

The Paisley designs we reviewed above have different variations in the way they were rendered, depending on which part of Persia they were being woven in.