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Lot Essay
This finely woven Khamseh with its velvety, lustrous wool and rich palette of natural dyes is most probably a product of the Baharlu tribe. The Khamseh confederacy comprised a collection of tribes which included Turkic, Arabic and native Iranian elements. The tribal interpretation is not just indicated by the brindled warps and the tied knotted wool spaced along the banded selvages, it is in the choice of brilliant but never harsh colours, which result in an intense riot of glorious brilliance, colours which today remain spectacularly undimmed. The long format of this Khamseh runner, of which there are few surviving examples, is very unusual. The particularly long and narrow proportions would have been impractical for use in a tent, which would suggest that it was a specific commission for a tribal chief who had already settled in a larger domestic house. This is also suggested by the fine weave and the quality of the velvety wool.
The design of staggered rows of ascending stylised palmettes on the present carpet draws similarities with the earlier Caucasian 'Dragon' and 'Blossom' carpets produced from the late 16th century through to the 18th century, such as an example in the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest (S. Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets, London, 1978, p.23, fig.138). That group of carpets, formerly thought to have been made in Kuba in the north eastern Caucasus, are now believed to have been produced in Karabagh, on the Persian border. Similar ascending blossom designs in rich earthy tones, were used by the Sauj Bulaq tribe in north Persia throughout the 18th and 19th centuries (see Jim Burns, Antique Rugs of Kurdistan. A Historical Legacy of Woven Art, London 2002, no.47, pp.156-7).
The design of staggered rows of ascending stylised palmettes on the present carpet draws similarities with the earlier Caucasian 'Dragon' and 'Blossom' carpets produced from the late 16th century through to the 18th century, such as an example in the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest (S. Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets, London, 1978, p.23, fig.138). That group of carpets, formerly thought to have been made in Kuba in the north eastern Caucasus, are now believed to have been produced in Karabagh, on the Persian border. Similar ascending blossom designs in rich earthy tones, were used by the Sauj Bulaq tribe in north Persia throughout the 18th and 19th centuries (see Jim Burns, Antique Rugs of Kurdistan. A Historical Legacy of Woven Art, London 2002, no.47, pp.156-7).