Afshar Bagface, Saddlebags and Trappings, Southwest Persia, 19th C (3rd Q) 25″ x 31″

Vintage Kashmir, Isfahan Pictorial Design, Wool and Silk Dimensions:  84” x 48” D0310: Vintage Kashmiri pictorial rug, with Isfahan (Persian) design. Region of Origin:  city of Srinagar and environs, Union Territory of Kashmir, India. Age and Condition:   Early to mid 1960’s.  Overall very fine condition, with good pile overall no foundation or knot nodes exposed.. Fabric and weave:  Kork/pashmina wool pile with natural silk highlights; double cotton weft.  Asymmetric (aka Persian or Sennah) knot, with an exceptionally high knot count of 576 KPSI.  The exceptional fineness of the kork wool, the sinuous wefts, and the absence of depressed knot nodes combine to give a carpet of outstanding softness and pliability.   Colors:  The color pallet, consisting of nine different shades, is soft and mellow dominated by white/ivory, shades of red, and shades of blue.

• ivory
• white
• indigo: midnight blue, dark, and sky blue
• reds: wine red, and pink
• brown
• russet
• pale green

  Remarks:

• This rug was woven in the 1960’s, approximately twenty years after the end of the British Raj (1858-1947).  Kashmiri carpet weavers then continued the use of Persian designs, but the quality of their materials and their weaving greatly improved, as is evidenced in this rug.
• The main feature of this rug is the depiction of a large speckled white ibis turned to its proper left, with its long sinuous neck wrapped around a water plant as it looks to a fledgling. (Ibises are an indigenous species in Kashmir; they also are to be found in the famed Isfahan bird sanctuary.)  The main field is populated with several types of flowers and leafy vines surrounding the ibis.  The multiple borders likewise display a variety of flowers, leaves and sinuous vines.
• This is a rug of exceptional elegance and esthetic appeal. There is an interesting contrast between the soft, harmonious colors of the rug and its graceful lines, producing overall a soothing effect on the viewer, and the tension of the main figure of the rug, the ibis, which strains to find its fledgling.   Here the rug’s designer has employed a well-known technique of high artistry wherein the viewer is drawn in to understand the image:  as the figure of the ibis is not immediately apparent at first observation (it blends in with the background), the viewer must focus her attention in order to recognize what is being depicted.