A Persian carpet carrying 2,500 years of history and 4.2 kilograms of gold has been holding the spotlight at this year’s Carpet and Art Oasis, one of Dubai Shopping Festival’s (DSF) main attractions for the last 22 years.
Once rolled out on the floor of the exhibition, the Dh5-million handmade carpet, made of pure silk and gold, will make you think twice before stepping on it.
“It took seven-and-a-half years for six men to make it. If one person worked on it alone, it would have taken a lifetime,” said Dr Afshin Ghanbarinia, vice-chairman of Heritage Carpet who produced the 6×10-metre rug.
The three-dimensional masterpiece, roughly the size of a squash court, is one among 200,000 rare handcrafted silk and wool carpets, worth around Dh2 billion featured at the exhibition organised by Dubai Customs.
Ahmad Mahboob Musabih, director of Dubai Customs, toured the event site on Tuesday and said that the Oasis has played a major role in adding colours to DSF, attracting more visitors and promoting Dubai as a major trade and tourism hub.
“The first week of the event attracted more than 5,000 visitors while 300 carpet items worth more than Dh5 million were sold during this period,” he told reporters.
Speaking further about his Dh5 million carpet, Dr Ghanbarinia said: “This particular carpet captures the rich designs and art of Persia. There are more than 800 colours in it and 2,500-year-old art,” he explained.
A close look at the carpet shows the type of flowers used. “Some are fictional flowers from the Safavid Empire and another flower, for example, represents a symbol of life and goes back to 1,500 years.”
Delicately woven, the base is the part that contains the gold and the silk is the work that comes on top, so when stepped on, the gold remains untouched, Dr Ghanbarinia said.
“For these types of carpets, customers go for their beauty and luxury, but also because it’s like a work of art on a canvas. The difference though is that with a painting, a mistake can be cleaned up, but with rugs, a mistake in a single knot will ruin the entire piece. This is how complex it is,” said the carpet expert.
Dr Ghanbarinia said his carpets, mostly produced in Iran, “are like diamonds” and have the same demand by people of all nationalities.
Abdul Rahman Eisa, chairman of the Carpet Oasis’ organising committee, said like every year, the 22nd edition features a plethora of rare carpets brought from the world’s most famous carpet manufacturing countries. .
“More than 70 per cent of the handmade carpets here are made of pure silk. Some carpets have taken more than 15 years to complete. We have made sure there is something for everyone. The prices of the carpets range from Dh2,000 to Dh5 million,” said Eisa.
Some of the unique rugs only for display this year is a 400-year-old rug and a 150-year-old rug worth $14 million — both from Iran.
“One carpet from Kashan, a village in Iran, shines more as more people walk over it,” he said.
