NORTH WEST PERSIA, CIRCA 1880

The knot count measures approximately 8V x 8H knots per cm. sq.

The story of Layla and Majnun follows a narrative arc which has become familiar across cultures thanks to the efforts of writers and artists who have reinterpreted the story. In Nizami's poem, Qays is a young man who is driven to madness when he cannot marry his beloved Leyla. Other members of his tribe dub him Majnun, the one who is possessed by jinn. He wanders the desert pining for her, even after her death shortly after she married another man. In this rug, Majnun - clad in rags - sits amid wild animals, lost in contemplation. Beside him is a gravestone upon which the name Layla is inscribed.