Picked up this Bidjar mat of recent (well, I believe it's Bidjar at any rate)
which strikes me of Kurdish weaving, and was hoping to glean any more info in regard to age, origin, dyes and in short the usual. This mat measures about 48 x 28 1/2 inches and demonstrates about 11 x 12 KPSI
I am really out of my zone on this one, I appreciate all of your help.
It's thick and substantial with well depressed warps, which made me think Bidjar at first,
but i wasn't sure what was going on with this weft, and don't want to pick it apart to find out.
Looks as if it may well be single wefted with this blue multi strand weft. And while I can't be sure,
can't find my hand lens at the moment, it does seem to be asymmetric right, and pile about 1/4 inch high.
My initial impression was that it be a Vaghireh, but following James' lead I suspect that it is composed of two
fragments from a large rug. If so, these two panels at either end would be sections of border, at 20 some inches wide.
The central panel could represent two of these floral arabesque truncated by the border, which would have been
the field devices of the original rug.
The sides are coarsely wrapped, and from what I can see doesn't seem to be much in the way of side
finish/structure beneath this over wrap. And it does seem to have been crudely joined in the middle- one frag is slightly wider than the other.
Thanks for the pointers, and jarring my memory. No, this isn't a Bidjar. The construction is heavy but not that heavy.
I remember handling one, a good old one, a long time ago and it was much heavier than this carpet of mine.
As Marvin suggested, the warps aren't depressed enough and the nodes at back aren't compacted to the degree seen in the Bidjar.
I was able to locate my hand lens and yes this weaving does sport a symmetric knot.
The warps are of white cotton and single strand, the thick wefts of blue cotton and numerous strands (at least seven) plied together.
Not to forget Marla's admonition in regards to single plied offset warps, the situation in regards to the warp isn't at all clear.
Would need a better hand lens and to root around some more within the structure...
I like the idea of Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari. I seems to mesh well with I have been able to find on the net in regard to color and drawing.
Color and drawing seem to also mesh with some Bidjar, but structure is the arbitrator, it is my understanding. The colors seem more to
some of the older Chahar Mahal pieces, the drawing less so, but I lack familiarity.
I had speculated that this carpet might be of two fragments from a larger rug, and while this may be true it seems, to judge from the
sparse sampling available on the net, that as a border frag this would have proceeded from an enormous rug.
It more likely consists of not one but two samplers which have been joined to form an area rug. At 2" x 2" the frags would be too small
to be commercially viable, as an area rug at least, and so maybe they were slapdash joined with an eye to marketability. Who can say?
Of more interest is that of colors and in turn dating of this weaving. This rug is filthy, I suspect, and demonstrates some corrosion,
more so of some colors than others. It has a lot of green, symptomatic of Bakhtiari weaving, it is my understanding.
Four reds, three greens, three yellows, three blues, white and some brown, fifteen colors all together...
Joel, I don't discount that this may be a Ziegler Sultanabad sampler, but to proceed from what is available on the net (and it's spotty),
Bakhtiari seems a better fit. At least for now...
Yes, I seem to have found some undisturbed warp, which may indicate that this carpet is as original.
It is the crude repairs to the sides and this curious slow, gradual twisting damage to the fabric
which presents the superficial appearence of being constructed of two fragments.
It was Chuck's tale in regard to the danger inherent in folding sharply an old Bidjar and of the possibility of rending the foundation in the process
which led me to my present opinion in regard to the condition of this carpet.
I suspect that someone somehow damaged the foundation of this rug in the past, probably by stepping on it or placing some weight upon it
while it was folded, which led to the sharp breaks evident in the cotton foundation and visable at the back of the rug. It has all been downhill
from there, as the damages are slowly unravelling. The incessant pulling and motion, the consequences of everyday use of this rug, is being
telegraphed through the structure, and hence these pulling injuries to be seen in the fabric.
Notice how this black thread has been used to coarsely bind this gaping wound to the side finish in the photo at left, and how the
twisting and pulling of this damaged fabric has laid bare some white cotton warp.
More cotton foundation is evident in the photo at right, taken near the center of the rug, bearing witness to two types of damage.
Just above center is a row of cotton warp ends, protruding as if cut or sheared. And below this mass of blue weft, just as in the previous photo,
we see knots and weft displaced by pulling or twisting, and leaving sections of white warp exposed. As for these masses of blue weft, they
represent where the fabric has completely faulted- in short where holes are evident.
These two types of damage, to both warp and weft, delineate this crease to the back of this rug and are evident in varying degrees along it's entire course.
Save for a section depicted in the photo below.
