| City Persian Rugs Mashad |
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The city of Mashad is located in north-eastern corner of Iran (close to the borders Afghanistan and Turkmenistan), and is the capital of Khorasan province. Mashad is one of the two holy cities in Iran. Mashad is the most sacred place in Iran for the shiites as it is the resting place of Imam Reza, the eighth grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Imam Reza was poisoned in AD 817 and his tomb subsequently became an important pilgrimage site and as a result Mashad expanded into a city surrounding his resting place. Due to Mashads proximity to Afghanistan and Turkmenistan there are many tribal rugs marketed in Mashad; these range from Afghans rugs, to Turkoman rugs, as well as rugs of the Belouch tribe. However, Mashad carpets are completely different to these. Mashad carpets are woven on a vertical loom, the warp and weft is cotton and the pile formed is wool. The designs produced are curvilinear and floral with traditional colours of rich wines and blues, although increasing numbers of examples are woven with cream backgrounds with secondary colours of blues. There have been few small carpets produced in Mashad as production of larger carpets is more usual, and sizes such as 4.00m x 3.00m are typical.
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