A Survey of Formation and Developments of the Islam School's Carpet Weaving in Tehran

During the reign of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar in Persia, with expanding of freedom of thought and seeking advancement, the new schools (Madrasa), one after the other, were opened in Tehran and also in the other cities such as Tabriz. There were only a few special schools that paid attention to art and industry beside theoretical education. The art of carpet weaving reached its peak at the Islam School, one of the most important of those special schools in Tehran. Today there is a pair of the Islam School’s hand-knotted carpets in the collection of Iran Carpet Museum. This paper has studied and analyzed the documents and books of the Qajar era through a historical research method to find the status of carpet weaving in this school and its consequences. The findings of this paper showed that the Islam School was founded in 1899 by Mirza Sayyad Mohammad Tabatabai, one of the leaders of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, to firm the bases of the new schools and also to guarantee their continuation. The founder and authorities of the Islam School who were from the most famous intellectuals and alternative thinkers of the time, purposefully brought the art of carpet weaving to the school to train the students in both fields of science and industry. Within less than two years, the carpets of this school reached the high quality and fineness so that they became the carpets of the royal court and then were sent to other countries as a gift in international affairs. However, with uprising of Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the more involvement of Tabatabai and his friends in the world of politics, the Islam School and its carpet weaving were marginalized and fallen into a decline.