How old are your carpets?
We use the most widely recognised terminology for indicating the approximate age of all carpets in our stock, as follows:
- Contemporary = made within the past 25 years
- Semi-old = made between 25 and 50 years ago
- Old = 50 - 100 years old
- Antique = over 100 years old
Its as simple as that, and we adhere as strictly as possible to this terminology for indicating age throughout our online listings.
The only other meaningful term in carpet language in respect of age is reference to the Classical Period. This is generally taken to refer to the period of the Safavid dynasty monarchy in Persia, which lasted from 1501 CE until 1722 CE, and is considered the first ‘Golden Age’ of Persian carpet art. More accurately, it refers to the Persian carpets made between the reigns of the two greatest Safavid Shahs, Tahmasp I (1524-1576 CE) and Shah Abbas I (1587-1629 CE), those masterpieces today almost entirely confined to the world’s major museum collections.
