daniel.d@infonie.be
Dear Patrick and you all, As you noticed, the field serrated leaf pattern
(compared to swirling fish by James Opie or sharp-toothed sharks by you)
and the main border pattern of confronting birds has been used by various
tribes in Iran with among them, the Bakhtiary–Lors, the tribes from the
Khamseh confederation and the Afshars. For your next dream, have you
noticed how these confronting birds look like the confronting birds of the
15th century Magri carpet? Sorting these rugs isn’t usually very
difficult, as wool, color and weaving are different. You say that your
first bagface is probably Bassiri (one tribe of the Khamseh
confederation), and I agree with you. The structure evokes a Khamseh
attribution and the association of the central medallion and the rendering
of the serrated leaf pattern seems to be characteristic of Bassiri
weavings. Other rendering of the same pattern without the central
medallion were also woven by the Bassiri. Here is an example of a Bassiri
double bagface (only one face shown) showing the same lattice variation of
the pattern as in your second bagface.  The edges of the flatwoven
panel between the two pile faces are reinforced with wrapped and bound
selvages in an unusual way. This feature has been discussed by Marla
Mallett on her site and can be accessed following this link. WOVEN
STRUCTURES UPDATE - Part 1 – second topic - "An odd South Persian
saddlebag detail" http://www.marlamallett.com/updates.htm
Here is another rendering of the same pattern where the serrated leaves
edge the three central medallion. The border of this piece shows also a
more "tribal" floral meandering than the border of your second piece.  It is interesting that the
two wefts between rows of knots are of "two different shades of
red-orange" in this piece.  Opie is the first author who noticed that this feature was
characteristic of Khamseh weaving. He also noticed that sometimes a very
vivid red appears in Khamseh weavings. I can't resist showing this
extraordinary "mother and child boteh" main border of a Khamseh rug. The
eyes and the child’s are drawn with this vivid characteristic red. Hoping
it will clearly appear on your monitor.  In my experience, it is
more characteristic of Khamseh weavings that two wefts of "different
colors" or in later pieces of "different nature (wool and cotton)" were
used, and that these were crossed between sheds in the center of the rug.
It is often very easy to see them as the two wefts are of different
colors. Marla Mallett told me that she had also observed these wefts
crossing in Khamseh weavings but that sometimes she handled pieces were
they didn’t cross. Thanks, Daniel |
This one is "different" in feel
than either of the two bags on the salon. It seems newer, hardly used, but
still early 20th century. You may note that the animals are the same color
when they are above and below each other, but in some (earlier?) rugs the
animals are the same color when "confronting". This face is "upside down"
but, because it has a "top" and "bottom" due to the orientation of the
central medallion, it appears upside down when On The Camel. The other
face appears "right side up". I am unable to closely examine this or the
other rugs in the salon for crossed wefts or double color wefts, as I am
out of town on business and, Surprise! I don't bring a lot of rugs along.
Patrick Weiler