Kashmir rug
A Kashmir rug is a hand-knotted oriental rug from Kashmir. Kashmir rugs or carpets have intricate designs that are primarily oriental, floral style in a range of colors, sizes and quality. .
Kashmir carpets are handmade, hand-knotted, and are primarily made in pure wool, pure silk and occasionally wool and silk blends. They are available in wide-ranging colors, designs and sizes.
Kashmir rugs are primarily made in Srinagar, Kashmir in north India although a significant part of the production also comes from rural Kashmir. Kashmir rugs carry a high premium in the world of handmade, hand-knotted rugs.
Kashmir rugs are made in a range of sizes like 3'x2', 4'x2'6", 5'x3', 6'x4', 7'x5', 10'x8', 12'x9' and 14'x10'. Due to the intensive labor involved, larger sizes are made only on a custom-order basis.
Kashmir rugs are renowned to have bright, jewel-like color tones such as sapphire blue, ruby red, emerald green, aquamarine, amethyst, and ivory. Rugs from Kashmir are traditionally made in oriental, floral designs that typically involve the significant and culturally important motifs such as the paisley, chinar tree, (the oriental plane) and tree-of-life. Most of these designs are rooted in the Kashmiri way of living and are a symbolic representation of the age-old Kashmir tradition of hospitality, warmth and genuine love.
It is often said in Kashmir folklore that a home is incomplete without a soul - a Kashmir carpet, which is told to "bring the entire house together" into a unified whole.
History
The history Kashmir carpet culmination of artistic magnificence -date back to the period of Hazrat Mir Syed Ali Hamdani (r.a.) 1341-1385 A.D. - the famous sufi saint of Persia who came to enlighten Kashmir with his spiritual guidance and brought along highly skilled artisans through the silk trade route and laid base for the cottage industries in Kashmir valley.
After the Mughal conquest Empror Akbar 1580 A.D. also brought weavers from Persia to Kashmir . A great period in the history of carpets in Kashmir came In the time of Zainul-Abadin (budshah) 1730 A.D. and our carpets started winning fame in far regions.
The skill of carpet weaving has been handed down by fathers to their sons, who built upon those skills and in turn handed them down to their offspring as a closely guarded family secret.