Kerman Rugs: The Largest and the Most Expensive

A Kerman rug, also spelled Kirman, is a hand-knotted rug from the city of Kerman in southeastern Persia, which has made sophisticated carpets since the 1500s.^[1] Kerman rugs are formal Persian city rugs, known for fine, curving floral drawing, soft colors and a lot of blue. Most are room size, which makes them some of the largest and most expensive rugs we sell. Do you have a big room in grays, blues or pale wood? Then a Kerman is one of the easiest Persian rugs to live with.

Where Kerman rugs come from

Kerman, in southeastern Persia, was a city producing for export and for formal rooms.^[2] Weaving there revived toward the end of the 1800s, and Kerman quickly became one of the most important carpet industries in Persia.^[1] It built its looms to match. Workshops wove from drawn designs, and much of the output was made for buyers in Europe and America.^[3] Those buyers wanted large rugs for large rooms. For the first half of the 1900s, Kerman rugs were even sold in the West as Kermanshah, the name of a different city, so an old label can mislead.^[1]

That is why most Kerman rugs are big. If you are furnishing a drawing room, a dining room or an open-plan space, this is one of the first origins to look at. A few small mats exist too, and they are a way to own a Kerman without the large format.

Colors: blue in nearly every one

The quickest way to spot a Kerman across a room is the blue. Nearly every Kerman has some, usually as a navy border, and often in the medallion or the flowers too.

The field, the main background inside the borders, varies more. Navy and deep red fields turn up about as often as each other. Cream and terracotta fields are next. Kerman is also known for soft rose and dusty pink fields, a pastel look that sets it apart.

Even on a red field, a Kerman tends to look cooler than a Hamedan or a Tabriz of the same color. That is because navy and dusty blue carry so much of the drawing. That makes a Kerman easy to put in a room that is already cool, with grays, blues, black or steel. A strong red rug would fight everything in that room. Our guide to blue Persian rugs covers where that blue comes from and what to pair it with.

How to recognize a Kerman

The drawing curves. Kerman belongs to the same workshop tradition as Kashan and Tabriz. Flowers, vines and medallions are drawn with smooth curves, not with the stepped, angular shapes of a Heriz.

The flowers are realistic. Kerman weavers liked recognizable blossoms and bouquets, often in the border and the corners.^[4] Many Kerman rugs leave more open field around the medallion than a Kashan does.

The pile is low. Nearly all have a low pile. On a rug this size that matters more than usual. It keeps the fine drawing clear at the distance you actually see it, standing up in the doorway.

What is a Kerman Lavar rug?

Lavar, also spelled Laver or Lavere, is a name dealers have used for the choicest Kerman rugs, after Ravar, a weaving village in the Kerman district.^[1] A Lavar Kerman is usually an antique. The examples appraisers see date from about 1890 to 1900 and are very finely knotted.^[3] Many antique Kermans also used cochineal, a red dye made from an insect, rather than madder, which comes from a plant.^[5] Our Kermans are vintage, mostly woven between the 1940s and the 1980s, so we do not sell any of them as Lavar.

Sizes: mostly room size

Most Kerman rugs are close to 9 by 12, 9 by 13, 10 by 13 or 10 by 14 feet. A few are around 7 by 10, and there are some small mats of 2 by 2 or 2 by 3 feet.

A 9 by 12 or larger can hold a whole seating group. The sofa, two chairs and the coffee table can all stand on the rug. If you are not sure how big to go, start with size. For a large, open space, placing a rug in an open plan is the one to read first.

Are Kerman rugs valuable?

A Kerman’s value depends on its age, its fineness, its condition and its size. You can see fineness from the back: on a finely knotted antique Kerman, the knots are so small that the pattern reads clearly there too.^[3] Condition comes next. A rug that has lost the borders across its ends is worth noticeably less than one that kept them.^[3] Most of ours were woven between the 1940s and the 1980s, so they are vintage rather than antique, and antique vs vintage rugs explains the labels.

A room-size Kerman usually costs between $2,200 and $2,750. The small mats start near $400. They are the honest way to own a Kerman if a large rug is not what your room needs.

For vintage rugs like ours, almost all of the price is size. A rug of 120 square feet has four times as many knots as one of 30 square feet woven the same way. Our breakdown of what determines the cost of a rug shows size moving price more than anything else. Next to another Persian rug of the same size, a Kerman costs only a little more.

Kerman or Mashhad?

These two get compared because they share the same scale and the same formal drawing. The difference is temperature. Nearly every Mashhad has a red or burgundy field. A Kerman carries more blue and some soft pastels. If the room is warm, with wood, brass and terracotta, choose a Mashhad. If it is cool and a red rug would fight it, choose a Kerman.

Living with a Kerman

A large rug in a main room takes steady wear, so give it a little help. Put a thin pad underneath to stop it creeping. Turn it end for end once a year, so the side by the window does not fade faster than the rest. Pastel rose and cream fields show grit sooner than navy ones, so vacuum often, without the beater bar.^[6] Our rug care page covers stains and washing.

Who should buy one

A Kerman suits someone with a large room and a cool palette. It is for a buyer who would rather have one considered thing than three approximate ones. It will likely be the most expensive rug in the house. It will also be the last floor decision that room needs.

It is the wrong rug for a busy hallway, a rental, or a room you are still working out. For any of those, start with Isparta or Hamedan and spend far less. When you are ready, the Kerman collection shows every one we have, with its exact size measured after washing.