History
Mashad is the capital and largest city in Khorasan. Khorasan is an immense province, which occupies the northeast quadrant of Iran. Much of it is remote and sparsely populated. Khorasan is one of the major wool-producing areas of Iran. Many different ethnic groups reside in Khorasan. Each group weaves rugs with characteristics that reflect the ethnic origin of the weaver. Mashad serves as the major market place for these rugs. Mashad carpets are woven in the city of Mashad as well as in the 500 or more towns and villages.


Characteristics
The Shah Abbas design on a burgundy or mauve background is most commonly associated with Mashad rugs. The design may be used as an all-over pattern or in conjunction with central medallion. Blue, pink, ivory, yellow, green, and orange are used for the motifs. Some typical Mashed medallion work around one essential style with a dark-blue sixteen point medallion, dark-blue border, dark-blue corners and a red ground filled with large shah Abbas motifs on a frame-work of fairly well ordered islimis. Also, the medallion may be oval. The ground motifs rather more like sprays of flowers than Shah Abbas palmettes. The wool used for the pile is soft and lustrous. The pile is medium to high quality and quite dense. Fine-quality Mashad rugs occasionally are woven with an inscription or signature. Inscriptions are obvious when woven in the background or in a cartouche; others are not as apparent and blend with a design or a border pattern. Inscriptions most often encountered are in Persian or Armenian script. Persian inscriptions are read from right to left. Very fine-quality Mashad rugs frequently have their sides finished with a wide multi-cord selvedge in silk or wool. The end part of Mashad rugs are often finished in multi-colored bands. The last several rows of pile are knotted in 2 to 3 inch portions of yellow, green, orange, ivory, pink, and light to dark blue. SABER" Saber started his work over 70 years ago when he was very young. He had a relatively large workshop in Mashad, and also had many looms in the suburbs around Mashad. At the peak of his career, he had around 60 looms, mainly producing large sizes and very rarely anything smaller than a 12 square meter. He passed away about 20 years ago. Today, a master weaver named Bazmi, who had worked as a foreman in his workshop for over 35 years, is still producing rugs with "SABER" signature. Lately, another weaver has received permission from his daughter to use this signature on some rugs he is producing in Mashad area, but none has been ready for the market yet. It is believed that nothing can replace the original Saber, because colors were 100% natural and he had a very special style in his work. Mashad Saber comes in both medallion and allover designs. He also made some pieces with Turkeman design with his signature as special order. Some of his pieces are very tightly-woven, and they mostly have a zigzag design on the outer sides of the border, very much like what you can see in a Mashad Amoghli.

Seen on www.catalinarug.com