An antique Benlian Tabriz carpet, signed Jabarzade, ca 466 x 323 cm

The Benlian star signature reads sherkat-e jabbarzadeh-ye qali-bafiyan va Mahmud, which translates as ‘The Jabbarzadeh Carpet weaving company and Mahmud’. Whilst other early 20th century workshops such as PETAG began producing Tabriz carpets of similar style, Benlian carpets can be identified by their eight-pointed star insignia woven in the corner of each inner guard stripe. The Benlian workshop was founded in the first half of the 20th century in Tabriz where it wove carpets specifically for the European market. Of Armenian descent, Edward E Benlian, a London based carpet dealer, had a strong affinity with the Armenian community of Tabriz and set up a workshop employing the best weavers in order to produce carpets of the highest quality. His master weavers included Javan Amir Kizi and Mahmud Ghalicheh, by whom the present carpet is woven. Both of these master weavers were extremely successful in reinterpreting the classical carpet designs of 16th and 17th century Safavid Persia, for more modern tastes.