Dilmaghani
Encyclopedia
The Dilmaghani family, the oldest existing manufacturers of hand knotted carpets and Oriental rugs, is verifiable traced back to the 1850s Qajar Dynasty
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal family of Turkic descent who ruled Persia from 1785 to 1925....

, Persia. In an industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

 which largely produces untitled
Untitled
The word "untitled" refers to something that has no title. Documents, works of art, musical works, and other works can be untitled. Generally, an untitled work is the result of a conscious choice by the artist or creator not to apply a title...

 items often needing seasoned eyes to identify, the history and lineage of any name relating to specific types of rugs for so many decades is unusual. Through the 1960s, the Dilmaghani family was still designing, manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

 and importing Persian carpets from Iran to the United States. Dilmaghani is seen as an important connection of 19th and 20th century Persian rug and carpet production in and around the cities of Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...

 and Kermān
Kerman
- Geological characteristics :For the Iranian paleontologists, Kerman has always been considered a fossil paradise. Finding new dinosaur footprints in 2005 has now revealed new hopes for paleontologists to better understand the history of this area.- Economy :...

. Dilmaghani remains among the best known names of branded 19th, 20th and 21st century hand knotted carpets.

Identification

Often, carpets by Dilmaghani from the mid 19th century through the early first quarter of the 20th are identifiable by a large woven signature (in Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

). They are usually within the border of Kermān
Kerman
- Geological characteristics :For the Iranian paleontologists, Kerman has always been considered a fossil paradise. Finding new dinosaur footprints in 2005 has now revealed new hopes for paleontologists to better understand the history of this area.- Economy :...

 Persian Rugs bearing cartouche
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...

 inscriptions loosely translate as: “Made to Order by Dilmaghani.” Additionally, some rugs had numerical Persian inscriptions. The two earliest generations of Dilmaghani carpets are identified by these Persian numerical designations. The earliest number, '02', spans ca. 1845-1880. The second generation of signed rugs, designated with a '92', spans ca. 1880-1910.

Post first quarter 20th century examples are either modestly signed, or bear the firm’s trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 Crown with laurel, known as the Cyrus Crown. Mid-century unauthorized replicas of the firm’s Crown Kerman carpets are often referred to as “Imperial Crown” or “Crown Royal” Kermans. These and other permutations using the word “Crown” were created by other manufacturers to ride on the clout of true Cyrus Crown Carpets as well as the Dilmaghani firm.

History

The Dilmaghani family were of Azarbaijani origin, and were largely wholesale general merchants, or tujjar (Khan al-Tujjar
Khan al-Tujjar
Khan al-Tujjar may refer to:*Khan al-Tujjar *Khan al-Tujjar...

), as well as sarraf, or bankers. The first account of the Dilmaghani family that relates to carpet manufacturing and trade traces from the 1850s; first in Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...

 and later in Kermān. The Dilmaghanis were also involved in the export of dried fruit to Russia and Turkey working through agents throughout Persia and representatives in Constantinople.

The oldest documented and verifiable producer of Dilmaghani branded carpets is Hadji Mohammed Hussein Dilmaghani, whose primary business were selling bills of credit to India and manufacturing fine Persian carpets. Early carpets by Dilmaghani are often identified through auction houses such as Sothebys, Christies and Skinner, Inc. and knowledgeable authorities in antique rugs made in workshops or cities.

Dilmaghani production into the 1880s was supervised by Hadji Mohammed Hussein’s brother, Hadji Mohammad Dilmaghani. In 1911, more than 2,000 weavers in Kerman City were under contract to Hadji Mohammad Dilmaghani. Their primary market was in America, and by 1917 the market value of a single export shipment to Europe or America could reach as high as $24,000.

Mehdi Dilmaghani, Hadji Mohammad's son, arrived in the United in 1921 and founded Mehdi Dilmaghani & Co. Inc. in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 New York. Mehdi Dilmaghani continued to manufacture, import and distribute Persian rugs for the American and European markets and therefore is regarded as a significant tie between 19th and 20th century carpet production.

From the early 1920s through the early 1960s, Dilmaghani owned three factories in Kerman, and several in Tabriz and Sarouk, Persia. Based on quality, these carpets were subjected to the highest import tax assessment determined by United States Customs. In 1929, Dilmaghani adapted a crown and laurel woven into specific rugs to supplement or substitute the long-time run of Dilmaghani signatures. Mehdi Dilmaghani & Co. Inc. registered several variations of their Cyrus Crown trademark in 1934. Post mid 20th century, Dilmaghani still traded and imported Kerman carpets, and the Cyrus Crown trademark remains active and in use today. Over the course of nearly sixty years, Mehdi manufactured an estimated 25,000 Crown Kerman, Crown Sarouks and Crown Tabriz Carpets ranging from 2’x3’ to 15’ x 30’ in size. Crown carpets were extensively documented, and the firm still retains many original production records including weaver names and loom dates for carpets from the 1930s.

In 1963, Mehdi Dilmaghani and Co. Inc relocated from Manhattan to Scarsdale, New York. The Dilmaghani firm contracted architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 Robert Carroll May, a long-time understudy & apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

 to carry out Dilmaghani's building design. The Dilmaghani showroom contains 10,000 square feet of interior space/showroom free of any internally supported pillars and free of any load-bearing walls.

Mehdi Dilmaghani and Co. Inc. continues manufacturing Oriental rugs and Cyrus Crown carpets. An installation of a Dilmaghani carpet was made in the Reading Room of the Clinton School of Public Service
Clinton School of Public Service
The Clinton School of Public Service is a branch of the University of Arkansas system and is the newest of the presidential schools. It is located on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. The school is housed in a former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad station...

 located on the William J. Clinton Presidential Center Campus, Little Rock Arkansas 2004 which took several years to make.

Notable Products

Cyrus Crown Carpets
This is the company’s flagship brand


Adnan Collection
A Dilmaghani Cyrus Crown edition carpet. This carpet was chosen for, and may be seen installed in the Reading Room of the Clinton School of Public Service
Clinton School of Public Service
The Clinton School of Public Service is a branch of the University of Arkansas system and is the newest of the presidential schools. It is located on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. The school is housed in a former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad station...

on the campus of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock Arkansas.

External links

  • http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/
  • http://www.craigholmes.net/RCM/biblio.htm
  • http://www.dilmaghani.com/Presidential-Library.htm
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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