Sehna (West Persian textile style)

Style of textiles, particularly a variety of sophisticated, finely-woven Persian rugs, made by Kurds in and around the city of Sanandaj (formerly usually spelled Sehna), Iran. The Sehna pile rugs and kilims are prized for their delicate pattern, coloring, and fine weave. The designs usually use a repeat pattern (diaper) such as the herati, in which a diamond lattice pattern peeps through a tangle of blossoms and leaves or through intricate versions of the boteh, a leaf with curling tip. The entire field may show such a pattern, or a medallion scheme may introduce a hexagonal centerpiece and straight-arched ends. The borders are full of fine detail, often featuring paired arabesques known in the trade as "turtles." The finely woven Sehna kilims are slit tapestries of the highest quality. Their small-scale borders are carried around the ends, as they are typically in pile carpets but rarely in such weavings. Sehna also manufactured saddle cloths, those in pile usually provided with a two-slope arch. Although the town of Sehna has given its name to the asymmetrical Persian knot (see "asymmetrical knots"), it is the Turkish, or symmetrical, knot, that is actually used there.