Patrick Weiler

A couple of years ago, Wendel Swan gave a talk at the 4th International Conference on Azerbaijan Carpets. It was held to honor the centenary of the birth of Latif Kerimov. A link to a Hali article describing the conference is here:

http://www.halipublications.net/newsall.aspx?Action=-617781463&ID=a90e7e69-83ff-49cc-ac2b-7d5bc5bf1714

In Wendel's presentation, Characteristics of Antique Azerbaijani Shahsavan Pile Weaving, he addresses some of the construction features of these pieces. One is the presence of camel hair in their pile weavings.
He also noted that they have simple field and border designs. The wefts, as also noted by Tanavoli, are red or ivory, but not blue or brown.
A rather distinct feature he found is sinuous or undulating warps.
The warps are not kept taut, so they can sometimes be seen on the back of their pile weavings, similar to the salt-and-pepper look of single-wefted pieces even though Shahsavan pile weavings have two wefts between rows of knots. This may be due to Shahsavan not being accustomed to weaving in pile, affecting the "weave balance".
When the warps are not kept taut, they "undulate" sinuously. Usually, one shot of weft goes over a taut warp and under the next and both warps are level with each other. The next shot of weft goes under the warp which the previous weft went over and over the warp the previous weft went under. When the weaver beats these sinuous (also called "weft-ease" or "scalloping") weft threads down against the previous row of knots, each warp is completely covered by either the first weft or the second. If the warp is sinuous and the wefts are taut , the warp sticks up in the back where a taut weft thread went underneath it, so it can be seen between rows of knots.

Here are some pictures of the back of the mafrash.
This initial image shows white "dots" interspersed between the mostly camel-colored wefts. These white dots are the sinuous warp showing through.

The next photo shows some of the natural light brown pile. Notice that it is flatter or duller in appearance than the other colors. This could be camel hair instead of sheep wool.

Here are a couple of pictures showing irregularities in the construction. This first one shows what almost appears to be a "lazy line".

The next shows what looks like discontinuous wefts. The white sinuous warp can be seen speckled across all four of these photos in places.

These irregularities may be what Wendel described as lack of weave balance due to inexperience in pile weaving. All of these features make a case for this piece being Shahsavan. The only unusual feature is the brown wefts, but this, too, may be camel hair.

Patrick Weiler

Chuck Wagner

Pat,

Do you consider the "look & feel" of the structure & weave of Wendel's piece - as pictured above - to be generally diagnostic of Shahsavan pile weavings ?

Regards,
Chuck

Patrick Weiler

Chuck,

The piece shown is the Salon pile mafrash. I did not have any photos of the pieces from Wendel's article. This piece does exhibit the loose, flexible handle and coarse weave of purported Shahsavan pile weavings. One thing you may notice in all of these pictures of the back of the piece is that the knots range from flat to completely depressed.
I am familiar with flat broke and depressed, but pile weavings with this inconsistency of warp depression may show a weave balance, or un-balance, consistent with a weaver unfamiliar with the techniques of pile weaving. This unfamiliarity, or lack of a long tribal history of pile weaving, is one feature which has been suggested may indicate a Shahsavan origin. Kurd, Caucasian and "NW Persian" pile pieces do not show this kind of construction.

Patrick Weiler

Chuck Wagner

Pat,

....duh....





When all else fails read the instructions (or, text).

Other comments later.

Regards,
Chuck

Patrick Weiler

My computer is now back up, running and upgraded, so it is time to add a few final items to the salon.
Here is a photo of the back of a Shahsavan rug showing the sinuous warp/weft ease construction throughout the rug. You can see that there are two wefts, but that they do not entirely cover each warp thread because the warp undulates over one weft and under the next.

My pile mafrash does not exhibit this consistency in construction, but instead a completely inconsistent construction. I would suspect that for the mafrash weaver this shows an unfamiliarity with pile techniques and a wing-it approach to weaving in pile.
The piece shown above, though, shows a technique which would not be used by a competent pile weaver because of her experience and local traditions. It was woven by someone who just did not know any other way to weave pile because she had not grown up learning the proper techniques. She maintained this construction throughout the weaving.
As has been noted, the Shahsavan confederacy consisted of a variety of different constituents from varied regions and tribal backgrounds. Their flatweave output is not consistent in techniques, dyes, wool and designs across the confederation. It would follow that their forays into pile weaving would also be likewise varied in construction, dyes, wool and designs.
There are some features of their pile weavings which, combined or with other clues, give us a better likelihood of concluding a Shahsavan origin.

Patrick Weiler