Since the thirteenth century, when Marco Polo admired their skills while traveling through Southeast Persia, the Persian carpet weavers of Kirman have been highly respected. During the sixteenth century, Shah Abbas I reportedly gave antique Kirman carpets embroidered with gold and silver thread as tribute to the Ottoman Court. The fame of these oriental weavings rapidly spread across Western Europe. From the mid sixteenth century through the eighteenth century, the city of Kirman was celebrated for 'vase' carpets, a term deriving from the depiction of vase motifs in many examples woven there. By the nineteenth century, Kirman was recognized for exceptional oriental rugs in the best Persian tradition. Antique Persian Kerman rugs of this period, especially the Lavar group woven in the town of Ravar, are known for fineness of weave, delicate drawing, an incomparable range of varied colors, and are still much in demand today.