perhaps this is a shahsevan bagface

[John Carpenter Registered Find all posts View Profile Close John Carpenter]

My name is John Carpenter. Now I hope to post some photos and describe some aspects of this piece.

This bagface was made using both plainweave, sumak techniques, and possibly weft float brocade. It has 17 warps/in. but a soft, even floppy, handle given the tightness of the weave. This fact is important to me because it indicates the fineness of the weave. The green color on the back of the bagface has oxidized to blue. Its dimensions are 191/2"×221/2".

I know of comparables in Hagenbart's Rare Oriental Rugs and Wertime's Sumak Bags, though I think this bag has qualities those comparables lack. For example, I know of no other weaving that has a central motif resembling the one on this bag. If others of you have bags exhibiting a similar central design, I should be delighted to see photos of them.

[Steve Price Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Steve Price]

Hi John

That's a handsome bagface, probably from one of the Shahsevan groups. The colors suggest that it was woven in the 19th century. I don't recall having seen the central motif in any other khorjin, but my memory is pretty far from perfect.

About the green: it was almost surely made by dying the wool with indigo and with a yellow dye. Yellows are typically sensitive to light, and has probably faded on the exposed side of yours. It's surprising to anyone who's ever tried to get rid of grass stains on kid's clothes, but 19th c. weavers didn't have a green dye.

Nice catch!

Steve Price

[John Carpenter Registered Find all posts View Profile Close John Carpenter]

Hi Steve,

"Nice Catch" pretty much describes how I came by it. Years ago I was wandering around a huge used furniture store that also sold textiles that came along with the results of a house sale when I saw this bagface lying on a table all by itself. I picked it up, turned it over, and said to myself "No, it can't be," and set it down again. Then I saw other people looking around and walked back to that little bagface thinking this may be the best $35.00 I ever spent.

John Carpenter

[Chuck Wagner Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck Wagner]

Hi John,

I changed your user name to John Carpenter, as our site rules don't allow use of pseudonyms.

Nice catch indeed, that's an unusual rendering of that motif.

Regards
Chuck Wagner

[Christopher Scott Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Christopher Scott]

Frauenknecht’s Shahsavan Sumakh has a very similar piece - plate 33 . Colours seem a little different .