A FEREGHAN CARPET

While rather naive in their depiction within the border cartouches on the present carpet, the figures of the lion and sun (Persian: شیر و خورشید‎‎, Shir o Khorshid) had been a highly popular emblem in Iran in the 12th century. During the Safavid era, the lion and sun stood for the two pillars of society, the state and the Islamic religion and later became a national emblem during the Qajar era. In the 19th century, European visitors at the Qajar court attributed the lion and sun to remote antiquity; since then, it has acquired a nationalistic interpretation. Between 1846 and 1979, the two figures were depicted on the country's national flag until the revolution in 1979 when they were replaced with the present-day Coat of Arms.