Quarterly Scientific-Research Goljaam

Birjand is located in the east of Iran and is the center of South Khorasan province. Birjand's carpets have its own characteristics in terms of motifs, coloring and structure that are outlined in this paper. Tiny fish is among the most widely used and popular motifs on the carpets of Birjand. This original and old motif is woven now in more than half of such carpets and can be seen on approximately ninety percent of exported carpets from Birjand. This paper attempts to study changes and developments in these carpets, in terms of design, motif, coloring, size and number of knits during recent decades of the present century using a descriptive method. Data collection for the study was conducted using desk study as well as interviews, observation and photographing some samples of tiny fish carpets. Tiny fish is a motif consisted of a central square with a eight-leaf flower and two leaves (abstracted fish) around it that has been evolved over several decades in the form of continuous, adobe-shaped, as well as corner-medallion. Over time, the original structure of the motif has remained unchanged, but its size has been reduced. Change of color from dark colors like blue and red to bright ones such as white and pale yellow is another change occurred in recent decades in tiny fish carpets of Birjand. These changes are mostly due to market demand, i.e. to meet the expectations of the customers, and sometimes due to the tendency of the weavers to weave more simple and economical designs, which in turn has led to change or persistence of some of the forms of tiny fish.