Pathology and Classification of Iranian CarpetDamages

Iranian carpet is a valuable and applied art treasure among the human arts that has been representative of Iranian culture and potentials since ancient times. Over the ages، this glorioushand-woven artwork has been subjected to damage and risks that sometimes have leads to destruction of some of its finest samples. Subsequently، some people have started repairingthe damaged carpetssometimes for earning their livelihood and some due to their passion for art. However، these repairs aren’t always correct and scientific، and lack of proper understanding of damage، damaging elements and lack of required skills in rug restoration have led to accelerated carpet destruction. In this research، damages، extent of damagesas well as scale of damagesare studied in Iranian carpet. So، at first major damaging factors، i. e. human، physical، biological and chemical factors have been studied and then the scale of damages including naps، knots، woofs، and cordshave been dealt with. Subsequently، they are groupedintoinner-structural،outer-structural and marginalgroups. Such classification is more detailed comparing former researches and also presents a new way to grouping the damages. In the field study section، some samples of these three groups along with the reasons for such damages are presented. Research findings show that many of inner-structural damages are related to the phase prior to weaving and during the weaving. Sound perception of the damagingelements and types and level of damage can be used for appropriate restoration without destroying the originality of the carpets.