Qashqai Wagireh

Hi all,

As this salon draws to a close, I thought it appropriate to fill it out with this Qashqai wegirah, from Jim Opie's Tribal Rugs of Southern Persia. We've seen a couple examples of fragmentary Qashqai vegerehs, but this is one is a complete rug:



Opie notes (as if he had to?) "There is something strange about this rug, something not quite right..", referring to the missing spandrel in the lower left corner.

He points out "...Herati design...appears in the field with unexpected additions and deletions", "minor borders change rather abruptly at several points", and concludes that this must be the work of an experienced weaver, and therefore, this is a vegirah.

It's certainly unusual. I would be happy to accept it as a donation to my collection. I'll wait patiently for the call..

Regards,
Chuck Wagner

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Chuck Wagner

Hi Chuck -

It is interesting.

Seems likely of the "strike-off" sort with the seeming question being should there be spandrels or not?

But if that is the case one wonders why two spandrels were not left off one end.

One can tell, a bit, though, what the rug would look like without spandrels.

Regards,

R. John Howe

Here is another wagireh from Jim Opie, a 3'9" x 6'5" Bidjar from his ad in ORR of April/May 1992.



It is a "full size" rug, but with a variety of designs. Interestingly, there is another ad in the same edition, from The Collectors Rug Gallery, of a Bijar (both spellings are from the ads) with the same field design as the top half of this rug!

Patrick Weiler

Patrick, Chuck, et al,

Some of these raise the question, "When is a wagireh not a wagireh?" When you have the same border all around and big areas of the same design, a few of them are verging into just funky rugs. Not that it makes any difference.

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Rich Larkin

crazy weaver

Richard,

Yes, a crazy weaver could have just changed her mind, but Opie called it a wagireh, so it must be!
Actually, there is a strip of "major" border at the top of the field in this piece and the field consists of two different designs, one of which has been made into a full rug as noted in the same issue of ORR.
This one could very easily have been a "factory" design sampler so the weavers could have made either type and with or without the major border. You don't see the pinwheel design often, but an ad in the recent Hali 147, page 85, shows a small portion of a very large Bijar hung in John Collins new shop with the pinwheel design taken from this sampler or one like it. It would be interesting to find out if it has either of the border designs shown in this wagireh.

Patrick Weiler

what are they thinking?

Hey Patrick,

Yes, there's no doubt their wagirehs. Still, it's funny how some of them are really a sampler with a conglomeration of designs packed into a small space, while others just jump into the off pattern here and there. From an aesthetic standpoint, I think I prefer the compact and varied style, all other aspects being equal.

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Rich Larkin