The Benlian workshop manufactured carpets for the European market in the city of Tabriz during the first half of the 20th century. Edward E Benlian was a London carpet dealer of Armenian descent who maximized his ties to the thriving Armenian community of Tabriz at the beginning of the last century to produce some of the best quality and most sought after Persian carpets of the era. The Benlian designers successfully reinterpreted the classical carpet designs of 16th and 17th century Safavid Persia.