Mey-meh

Mere om Mey-meh

Meymeh, Meimeh, Maymeh

During the time of the Safavids (1502-1736), very good quality carpets were being knotted in the Djohseghan area, which is about 100 km north of Isfahan. Some of these were made for the shah’s court at Isfahan. Today, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, you can see a couple of beautiful specimens from the Djohsegahn area, knotted around 1670. Due to serious earthquakes in the area, a large part of the population migrated to Isfahan. Fortunately, more of these carpets are available on the market once again. The carpets from the Djoseghan area are lovely carpets. They are not available in large quantities, but they are easy to recognise from their distinctive patterns. The interesting thing is that this pattern has not changed in several centuries. The dyes used can be either natural or chemical. The wool is of relatively good quality. The carpets come from four towns in the area, located close to one another. You can roughly split them into the following quality categories, according to knot density:

Djoseghan 9.000-18.0500 knots per ft2

Meymeh 18.500-33.000 knots per  ft2

Murchakar og Khosrowabad 37.000 or more knots per ft2

However, there is just one rule of thumb. All are knotted with Senneh knots and the warp and weft are made of cotton. Production is very limited compared to previous times.

Source:
You are reading an extract from the book ‘Oriental Carpets, Knottet with Love’ by Martin Munkholm.
This extensive book about all that is carpets can be borrowed in Danish libraries or be bought following this link: https://belle-rugs.dk/se-taepper/bog-aegte-taepper-knyttet-med-kaerlighed/

The book is published by Muusmann Forlag.
For more info: http://muusmann-forlag.dk/

You can find our selection of Mey-Meh carpets underneath.