Ancient Persia, today, modern Iran, strikes with traditions and culture. The rich heritage of ancient Persia is kept and passed on from generation to generation. Persian mosaic (hutam) is another kind of the ancient art. Once khatam was a craft of incrustation with wood, which turned into a real art and became popular throughout the world.

The exact date of the origin of this art is not known, but the peak of popularity and development of khatam reached in the Safavid era from the XVI XVII centuries. The preserved details of the interior (chests, tables, stands, chess, etc.), as well as windows and doors were decorated with Persian mosaic.

Traditional khatam is a hexagonal pattern of triangles. More complex patterns are decadent, but khatam is known for its hexagonal pattern. The pattern is so complex that it is almost impossible to discern all the components.

The variety of wood species such as pink, ebony, orange, walnut, eucalyptus, etc is used for khatam. Each pattern has its own shade: from the nut and ebony tree black triangles are made, for more expensive khatam jujuba is used. For colored triangles, a colored orange tree is used.

In addition to wood, the camel and cow’s bone, ivory and oyster shells are used in the khatam. Golden and silver triangles are obtained from metallic threads like copper, s, lver and gold.

Each constituent part of the khatam has the form of a trihedron. It is very important to have perfectly smooth shapes, so that the final pattern is symmetrical and ideal. Wood, metal and bone are combined forming a unique pattern of a flower. From the ready “sticks” plates are cut and whose plates are ater used to decorate objects. Hutam is used for decoration of not only wooden objects, but also metal ones, for example jugs, copper utensils and etc. The final touch is a varnish coating to protect the surface from scratches and wear.

Real artists create works of art that have no analogue. Today Isfahan masters make unique objects decorated with khatam like expensive caskets, tables, clocks, accessories for the table.

Homeland of the khatam is Isfahan. In the Isfahan bazaar you will find not only unique carpets with characteristic patterns, but also a variety of objects decorated with Persian mosaic. Walking through the Isfahan Bazaar, you will be even confused from a variety of chic items. To have such a detail of the interior in the house means to have a real treasure, which you will admire over and over again.