The type and number of knots are two important properties in Persian rugs. There are different types of knots used in different type of weaving. The two major types of knots are asymmetric (Persian, Senneh) and symmetric (Turkish) knots. In this page, we try to explain about these knots and the regions of IRAN those are using these types of rugs.

Asymmetric Knots (Persian, Senneh):

Asymmetric knots also known as Persian or Senneh knots are generally used in central, northern, northeastern, southern, southeastern IRAN. The structure of these rugs as you can see in the picture.

Symmetric knots (Turkish):



Symmetric knots also known as Turkish knots are generally used in northwestern, western, southwestern and some portion of northeastern IRAN( Quochan). The structure of these rugs as you can see in the picture.

There is no advantage or disadvantage of using any of these knots. Knowing the types of the knots in your rugs it's a good indicator of the region that your rug was made. The main important issue in knots is the number of them in specific length. In IRAN, they use metric system so the number of knots in 7 cm is called RAJ is one of standard of quality of the rug. In the US and England that are using English units, the number of knots per square inch ( KPSI) is getting used to define the quality of a rug.

There are flat-woven rugs that you cannot count the number of the knots due to the way the weaver make those knots. Most probably the majority of tribal rugs such as Qashgai, Bakhtiari and some Kurdish rugs belong to this family. Some village rugs also use flat-woven structure.

The following table explains the number of the knots in different system and its conversion: