How to buy Pateh embroidery (Kerman)

Definition

Pateh is a needle-embroidered textile particular to Kerman, worked with fine wool or silk thread over a plain woollen ground cloth, usually left in its natural cream or dyed to a solid colour. The embroidery covers the surface densely enough that little of the ground shows through in the finished field, producing a textured, almost pile-like surface distinct from open or sparse embroidery styles.

The craft is closely associated with Kerman's broader wool textile economy, drawing on the region's long-established supply of fine wool and dyeing expertise, and pateh pieces range from small purses and cushion covers to large tablecloths and wall hangings.

History

Kerman has been a centre of wool textile production for a long period, and pateh embroidery is documented as a distinct craft within that broader tradition by the Qajar period, produced largely by women working at home or in small workshops. Precise origin dates for the specific chain-stitch pateh technique as practised today are not firmly established in the published literature.

Twentieth-century demand, both domestic and through craft and tourist markets, sustained pateh production through the Pahlavi period, but heritage documentation in more recent decades has noted a shrinking number of embroiderers working at the finest, most time-intensive grades, as the labour required is not matched by commensurate prices in much of the market.

Materials

A plain-woven wool ground cloth, sometimes dyed, provides the base. Embroidery thread is traditionally wool or silk, worked in a restrained palette historically dominated by warm reds, oranges and golds against the ground colour.

• Woollen ground cloth, natural or dyed
• Wool or silk embroidery thread
• Traditional dyes for both ground and thread, with synthetic dyes common in later work