Iranian artists and craftsmen have been interested in decorations for a long time. Geometric, animal and plant motifs and sometimes a line in various combinations adorned all or part of their handmade works. The art of carpet weaving hasn't been excluded. Carpet designers have created beautiful and sometimes unique designs by the influence of religion, politics, culture and other common arts during the course of history and the master weavers have also recorded it.
One of the most important applied designs in carpet-weaving art which became universal by the arrival of the Islam is the design of prayer rugs, the carpets with small dimensions that were designed and woven to perform the most important religious practices; saying prayers. Probably, performing congregational religious ceremonies including Congregational Prayers, Friday or Eid (Islamic Feast) prayers were enough to create a unique design in the art of carpet-weaving in Islamic Iran with the title of a Niche Prayer Rug (saff).
In these kinds of carpets, a row of altar arches is woven on the length or width of the carpet to determine the position of a single person who says prayers. This attractive design that can be a symbol of unity of the Islamic nations, has been gradually adapted by Muslims of other Islamic countries such as Turkey, India and Eastern Turkestan. Considering the culture and common decorative motifs of that area, the native weavers produced different and sometimes beautiful carpets that are rooted in original Iranian art.
This descriptive-analytic investigation is to study the history of the Niche Prayer Rug (saff) design in Iranian carpet-weaving art. Regarding the library based state of the research, it’s tried to introduce the reason of weaving these kinds of carpets and also the areas that produced them.
