Shop Silk Qum Rugs and Vintage Persian Qum / Qom Carpets
Qum rugs, sometimes also spelled as Qom and Ghom, are the finest and the youngest of all the great Persian weaving traditions. Browse and buy them at Nazmiyal’s New York gallery for silk and silk-and-wool pile rugs at the highest knot counts woven anywhere in Iran. The collection runs from small scatter pieces through long silk runners to room size. Shop from our collection or speak with a specialist about a specific rug.
Updated August 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Jason Nazmiyal, Founder of Nazmiyal Collection · 45 years in the antique rug trade
Extremely Fine Weave Floral Medallion Vintage Persian Silk Qum Rug Nazmiyal Collection #70244
What is a Qum Rug?
Qom is a city in central Iran, roughly 125 km south of Tehran, and one of the most important religious centres in the Shia world. The name is romanized three ways in the rug trade — Qum, Qom and Ghom — and all three refer to the same city and the same weaving.
Production History: Antique or Vintage
Qum rugs are unique because of how new the style is despite it being a recognized tradition. Persia is famous for its rugs. Weaving has had a place there as an ancient cultural practice for centuries with famed weaving-centers in cities like Kashan, Tabriz, Isfahan, and Kerman. The tradition of rug-making is so ingrained that antique rugs sold today are often labeled using their origin cities as titles. In Qom, however, there was no established pile-weaving tradition. It was not until the 1930s that Kashan weavers arrived, bringing with them looms and skilled hands.
Today, the city is revered for its rugs. With no historical tradition to fall back on, Qum rugs shine when it comes to their execution. They managed to develop and uphold a reputation as a center for rug production by focusing on creating work with only the finest materials and highest knot counts.
That start date has a consequence worth knowing before you buy. The oldest Qum rug that can exist is under a hundred years old, which means that on the conventional definition — a hundred years or more — there is no such thing as an antique Qum rug. Everything genuine in this category is vintage, and most of what is on the market is later than that. Our own Qum pieces are described as vintage and dated accordingly, because that is what they are.
If you are offered an “antique Qum”, the seller is either using the word loosely or does not know the category. It is the single quickest way to judge how carefully a Qum rug is being described. Compare our antique rugs and vintage rugs collections to see where the line falls.
There is no one Qum design style. Instead, carpets produced there borrowed compositions, motifs, and palettes from other weaving centers. Designs were then redrawn to the Qum standard.
“Qum is the youngest of them and it is the one people get wrong most often. There are no antique Qums — the city only started weaving in the thirties. And half of what gets sold as silk Qum is not silk. Get those two things straight and you are ahead of most buyers.”
— Jason Nazmiyal, founder, Nazmiyal Antique Rugs
Is It Really Silk?
Qum is the Persian category where fibre substitution is most common, because silk is what the name sells. Rugs described as silk are frequently woven in viscose, rayon, “bamboo silk” or mercerised cotton. These are not silk. They are cellulose fibres treated to imitate its lustre, and they behave very differently over time — they crush, they grey, and they can be permanently damaged by water.
What a specialist actually examines:
The lustre. Natural silk has a softer, more complex reflection that shifts with the angle. Viscose has a harder, more uniform shine that looks the same from everywhere.
The hand. Silk is warm to the touch and springs back. Viscose feels cool and stays crushed.
The fringe. On an all-silk Qum the fringe is an extension of the silk warps, not a cotton fringe stitched on.
The back. Fineness and knot regularity, and whether the foundation is silk or cotton.
Wear pattern. Viscose bruises and greys along traffic lines in a way silk does not.
Laboratory testing, where the answer needs to be certain.
Do not burn or cut fibres from a rug yourself to test it. Testing the wrong area causes permanent damage and rarely produces a reliable answer. Our certificates of authenticity set out what we will and will not attest to.
Construction and Materials
The construction and materials of a Qum rug are what make it, rather than the design. Qum rugs are famous for their use of silk and their crisp drawings made possible through an incredibly high knot-count.
All-Silk Rugs — These rugs are made up of a silk pile on a silk foundation. It is the finest form of Qum construction and the one with the highest knot count.
Silk and Wool — A combination of silk and wool is not unheard of for a Qum rug’s material construction. Silk is usually used as a highlighting design tool woven into a majority wool piece. These rugs make for more durable, and therefore more practical, rugs.
Wool — Though they are in the minority, there are fully wool Qum rugs as well. Usually they are made up specifically of kork, a high-quality and lustrous wool. A good wool Qum can be a better rug than an ordinary silk one, and these are frequently overlooked.
Knotting — Qum rugs employ the asymmetrical Persian knot because it allows for curvilinear drawing.
Knot Density — Qum rugs have among the highest knot densities of any Persian rug type. A high knot count results in a more precise drawing and is necessary when working with a material as delicate as silk. We do not publish counts for individual rugs without measuring them — the figure is quoted far more often than it is counted, and in this category it is the number most often inflated.
Visit our silk rugs page if you are further interested in the materiality used in Qum rug construction. For how knotting is measured and what the numbers do and do not tell you, see the guide to rug making and weaving.
Designs and Motifs
Because Qum rug designs are borrowed and inspired by other established compositions, they exist in a variety of patterns. Their repertoire mostly consists of dense and intricate drawings, made easier by their high knot counts.
Gonbad Medallions
Named for the farsi word for dome, Gonbad designs are meant to imitate the beautiful patternings and architectural designs found in mosque domes. They are medallion compositions surrounded by dense repetitive motifs and are one of the few original Qum designs.
Garden Compositions
Garden rugs are named after the organization of the design composition rather than displaying literal garden imagery. Instead, these rugs are characterized by their compartmented layouts, common across many carpet styles.
Central Medallions
Medallions are one of the most popular and classic rug compositions of all time. Often symmetrical, they are made up of a central focal design surrounded by supporting motifs. The imagery and color palette of their designs can vary greatly.
Allover Florals
Rugs with allover designs are made up of repeating motifs across their entire field. In the case of Qum rugs, allover compositions with floral designs are the most common format.
Fine Floral Silk Vintage Persian Qum Rug Nazmiyal Collection #70791
Pictorial and Hunting Scenes
The level of detail made possible through the use of silk makes legible imagery a popular Qum rug design. Pictorial drawings or hunting scenes depicting figures and animals serve as artistic representations of story re-tellings or documentation of true events.
Tree of Life Compositions
Rugs with tree of life compositions are not literal depictions of trees, but instead follow a tree-like design with one central vertical grounding element from which ornamental motifs branch off of.
Vase Design
Vase design rugs feature a vase with overflowing florals spilling out and across the rug field. They are highly decorative and very intricate, often utilizing a diverse color palette. In the Persian repertoire this vase-and-flower repeat is also known as Zel-i-Soltan, borrowed from the Qajar period.
Fine Beautiful Persian Silk Small Scatter Size Floral Vase Luxury Qum Rug Nazmiyal Collection #49405
Prayer Designs
Rugs with prayer designs are characterized by their directional mihrab arch, an architectural niche found in mosques that is recreated on rugs for prayer.
Qum rugs are known for their beautiful jewel-tone palettes. There is no one dominant dye-tone, but instead an assortment of color to support the intricate drawings taking center stage. A contributing factor to the vibrancy of Qum rugs is the way dye behaves in relation to silk. Silk fibers amplify color, presenting hues more deeply than wool while maintaining luminosity.
Qum rugs come in:
Ivory — Rugs with ivory and cream backgrounds are both the most common and the most versatile.
Indigo — Cool tones such as blue are found most often in medallions or borders.
Gold / Rose / Sage — All used commonly as secondary tones.
Jewel Reds — Particularly vibrant with silk fibers.
Ivory-on-Ivory — The luster of the silk works to create the pattern.
Sizes and Formats
Given the material and knot-density of Qum rugs, hand-weaving these carpets is a slow-going process, and a large all-silk piece represents an extraordinary amount of loom time. Relatively “large” Qum weavings tend to be categorically room-size rugs rather than the oversized carpets you find in older Persian centres.
Qum rugs are found in the following sizes with few exceptions:
Scatter size and small rugs — roughly 2 ft to 5 ft wide, and where much of the finest Qum work sits.
Room size rugs — make up the largest scale of Qum rugs, running to around 10 ft x 13 ft 9 in at the top of our range.
Runner rugs — common as both fully silk productions and as combination silk-and-wool rugs, and an unusually deep part of our own Qum collection, most of them running 12 ft to 13 ft 7 in long.
Gallery size — the long, narrow format between a runner and a room size, roughly 5 ft x 13 ft.
The rug size guide explains the standard formats room by room.
How to Identify a Qum Rug
Qum rugs can be identified through several factors. The easiest identifier for whether or not a weaving is a Qum piece is through its labeled age. Be skeptical of any rugs labeled “antique,” as there are none yet over one hundred years old.
Aside from age, there are other authenticating factors to consider:
Fineness — Qum drawings possess a level of detail rarely seen in other Persian weaves.
Fiber — True Qum rugs are often made from silk. Because of this, many rugs claim the title but use some sort of imitation silk, like viscose, rayon, or mercerised cotton. Check the fibre before anything else; it is the question that decides everything else.
Design — Qum rugs borrow designs from other carpet-weaving traditions but execute them with a higher level of precision. If the drawing is coarse, the attribution is likely wrong.
Construction — Turn over a rug to further examine its fundamentals for regular, dense knotting and a fine foundation.
Ends and sides — Fine silk is delicate at the perimeter, and that is where a Qum shows its history.
The value of a silk Qum rug varies rug-to-rug and there is no simple answer. Worth is determined through a combined consideration of fiber, knot-count, drawing quality, materiality, size, condition, and whether or not a piece has an accompanying signature.
The fibre comes first, and it is not a refinement of the price — a viscose piece and a silk one of identical appearance sit in entirely different markets. After that, knot density and the quality of the drawing are read together, because density alone is worth little if the drawing is stiff.
Certain aspects of Qum rugs are weighed more heavily than they would be when looking at rugs of a different origin due to the specificity of these weaves. Most Qums are small, making large all-silk rugs a genuinely rare find. Whether a rug is made up fully of silk, wool, or a combination of both will also impact its value.
Our Qum rugs are priced on request. If you already own one and would like to request a professional opinion on its value, we offer rug appraisals and antique carpet valuations, and we buy as well as sell through sell your rug.
Featured Qum Rugs
Three that show the range, and all correctly dated as vintage rather than antique.
Nain, Isfahan, and Tabriz productions are all Persian sub-categories of rug weaving similar to Qum rugs but with key distinctions. To directly compare, see our Nain rugs page, Isfahan rugs page, and Tabriz rugs page. For Turkish workshop silk, compare Hereke rugs; also relevant are Tehran rugs.
Decorating with Qum Rugs
Qum rugs work especially well as decorative and furnishing objects. Their generally silken construction does not allow for as much durability as a wool rug, but their impressive level of detail and beauty more than makes up for it.
Silk is a low-traffic material, performing best in areas where, when used practically, are not subjected to too much activity, like bedrooms or studies. Otherwise they serve as wonderful ornamental pieces, hung somewhere to be admired in the same way you would a painting. Keep Qum rugs out of direct sunlight to keep the silk from fading. Compare across eras in modern rugs.
Care and Handling
Keep it out of sustained direct sunlight. Silk fades faster than wool.
Use a proper pad, and avoid heavy furniture that will crush the pile permanently.
Vacuum gently with suction only — never a beater bar, never over the fringe.
Blot spills immediately and do not use household spot cleaners on silk.
Have it cleaned only by a silk specialist. Improper cleaning causes colour migration and pile distortion.
Glossary
Qum / Qom / Ghom — three romanizations of the same city in central Iran.
Gonbad — the dome layout, one of the few designs originating in Qum.
Zel-i-Soltan — the vase-and-flower repeat borrowed from the Qajar repertoire.
Mihrab — the directional arch of a prayer design.
Asymmetrical knot — the Persian knot, which allows curvilinear drawing.
Viscose / rayon — cellulose fibres marketed as “art silk” or “bamboo silk”. Not silk.
Kork — fine underwool, used in the better wool Qums.
Vintage — the correct term for this category. Nothing from Qum is antique.
Nazmiyal is a New York gallery, not a marketplace. Our collection of vintage and antique rugs can be viewed by appointment at our gallery on East 32nd Street in Manhattan, where designers, collectors, and private clients have sourced rugs since 1980. If you are looking for high-end silk Persian Qum rugs in New York, you can see selected pieces in person before deciding. Clients outside New York are supported with specialist guidance, free shipping within the USA, international orders quoted individually, and our authenticity standards.
Since 1980, Nazmiyal has hand-selected vintage, antique, and decorative rugs from our New York gallery. Every piece we list is vetted by our own specialists. We help clients choose by movement, size, condition, room use, design character, and budget, with guidance for collectors, interior designers, and first-time buyers.
Clients work with us for authenticated rugs, specialist advice, accurate measurements, detailed photography, condition guidance, and the ability to view selected pieces by appointment in New York. Our goal is to help you find a silk Persian Qum rug that is authentic, beautiful, usable, and right for that room.
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My wife and I are so pleased with the antique Uzbek Bokhara Rug purchased from the Nazmiyal Collection. Not only does the rug have a spectacular design, it also was very reasonably priced. The way it transforms our living room, reconciling the classic modern furniture with the 1913 Craftsman interior is remarkable.
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Terence Hayes
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I have purchased multiple rugs at multiple Nazmiyal auctions and I am extremely pleased with the quality, price, and experience. Highly recommended!
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Victor Florintsev
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The only ones I'd ever buy rugs from. The best.
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Jeffrey NeumanB
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I bought two gorgeous Serapi rugs from Farhad at Nazmiyal Rugs! Beautiful carpets, fair prices and great service. Very happy customer. Farhad (the sales person) was very patient and gave us great service.
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john haid
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Alen is a gentleman and an expert. Really great to work with.
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Edward Yasuna
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I recently purchased a modern Kandinsky rug from Nazmiyal Auctions. It was just as described, and the director (Farhad) of the auctions had it sent to me quickly and safely. Payment was easy, the rug was reasonably priced, and I highly recommend Nazmiyal Auctions and Antique Rugs. Quality merchandise and first-class service.
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Nicholas Carr
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Had a excellent experience buying a rug in Nazmiyal's 1/18/26 online auction. First, prior to the auction, viewing a number of lots at the 32nd St showroom (I had prepared a list from the online catalog). The staff were great to work with: helpful, knowledgable, honest, and flexible. Second, after placing an online bid and winning the desired item, arranging payment and pickup was simple and straightforward. Everything went seamlessly and the overall experience was educational and fun. Many thanks to Jason and his team.
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Andrea Gared
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Everyone at Naziyal is proffessional, especially Jason and Farhad.
They are knowledgeable, truthful, and true gentlemen. I have sold several rugs through them and will always go to them first, to buy or sell. The best in the business!
Frequently Asked Questions
No, all genuine Qum rugs are vintage or later. Pile weaving in Qom began in the early 1930s, so no productions have yet reached 100 years.
No. While many are completely made from silk, some are made through a combination of silk and wool, or are purely wool productions.
No. Because they are a fairly new tradition, they borrow design styles, compositions, and motifs from already-established older traditions. Their distinctiveness comes from their construction.
Fine silk Qum rugs are best treated as low-traffic pieces or as purely decorative objects. Silk-and-wool and all-wool Qums are more practical for rooms in regular use.
Value is determined through a combined consideration of fiber, knot density, drawing quality, construction, size, condition, and workshop signature when applicable.
