Shahsavan pile weaving is extremely rare, despite the fact that one often sees that label on too many dealers' offerings. Perhaps because the Shahsavan themselves are not a homogenous ethnic group, their limited pile weaving does not fall into tidy design and structural categories.
With pattern being of little aid, we have to look at structure. I have suggested elsewhere that nomadic Shahsavan pile rugs can be distinguished from other wool-on-wool symmetrically knotted weavings in the region by:
1) relatively simple field and border designs consistent with their
flatweaves
2) fine red, salmon or ivory wefts, but not blue or
brown
3) the frequent use of camel hair in the pile
4) the
occasional use of cotton in the wefts
5) in certain groups or cases,
sinuous warps caused by weft ease
The Italian rug has all of these
structural characteristics as well as a color palette that is consistent
with Shahsavan flatweaves from the Moghan area, as is illustrated by this
close-up of real camel hair in the "ashik" border, with sinuous warps
shown.
I have never seen any pile weaving that I would call Shahsavan that is as old or as large. It has been imbedded in my mind ever since I saw its image in 1989. The size of the rug indicates that it must have been made for a khan or some important person, regardless of that person?s political or tribal affiliation. Perhaps it was preserved because its makers considered it to be important.
My feeling is that it was woven sometime before 1850, but how much earlier I couldn't say. Some have suggested that it could be 18th Century. COULD is the operative word. I can only say that its size, proportions, structure and handle remove it from the realm of the late 19th Century Caucasian rugs.
Wendel
