Afghan | 110 x 82 cm | Nr. Z-4621

Afghan, dark red with border

Origin	Afghanistan
Dimensions	110 cm x 82 cm (= 0.90 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: goat wool
knots per m²2	90.000
Pile height	6mm
Year of manufacture	1970
Colour	Dark red, black and white
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Rugs made in Afghanistan – known as Afghan rugs, or simply Afghans – are unmistakable. In Afghanistan's cultural melting pot, Baluch, Turkmen, Kazakh and Uzbek weavers came together, each bringing influences from their homelands. During the 19th century, Turkoman tribes settled villages in Afghanistan, which brought Turkoman weaving styles into the region. The designs of the various tribal groups – among them Esari, Salor, Tekke and Yomut – are wonderfully varied. What holds them together stylistically is the use of intricate elephant's foot motifs (known as guls), lively reds, decorative bands and ornamental end panels.

Tribal weavers used natural dyes to create an enormous range of reds, from deep aubergine brown to warm burnt orange. These glowing colours are traditionally combined with clear blues and ivory accents. While the tribes of Afghanistan frequently use guls and serrated stars, it is in the decorative borders and end panels that weavers have traditionally worked a little of themselves and their culture into the design. The same is true of the decorative rugs from Bukhara, where all-over gul motifs are widespread.

The gul is a versatile motif, used as a medallion or for repeating patterns. It can be set against a monochrome field or linked into a striking tile pattern. The rich colours and bold design of antique Afghan rugs make them spectacular statement pieces that complement a wide variety of interior styles perfectly.

Because of the political situation in Afghanistan, only a few Afghan rugs are still made today.

Pattern

The decorated surround (border) forms a beautiful contrast to the centre and shapes the transition at the edge of the rug.

This Afghan is adorned with the so-called Mehrab or Mihrab motif. Mehrab refers to the Islamic prayer niche in mosques, which marks the qibla, the direction of prayer towards Mecca. Rugs bearing the Mehrab motif are traditionally used by Muslims for prayer and are therefore especially treasured.

The background of this Afghan is dark red. The border is worked in dark red and black and white.

Condition

You are not the first to take a liking to this Afghan. It had owners before you who valued it and used it. The fringes could do with a repair. There is a 6 cm patch where the pile has no wool left.The pile is worn in places.In some spots you can see a few white threads. That is perfectly normal with older rugs. They are the knot ends of the weft and warp weave, which work their way to the surface over the years. In terms of substance, this is not a major issue. It was hand-knotted around 1970. We have cleaned it thoroughly and lovingly restored it. That is why – despite its age – it is in very good condition.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for this Afghan's pile is more than 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural colours and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant-based colours is more complicated, more expensive and more time-consuming than dyeing with chemical dyes. For a luminous red, for example, you need around one kilo of ground madder root as a dyestuff per kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that isn't too pale, you even need two kilograms of weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is just as time-consuming and labour-intensive. And fewer and fewer people still know how to spin wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: dyeing with natural colours lets the high-quality wool keep its natural lanolin content. Wool that is dyed with natural colours and spun by hand produces fascinating, shimmering patterns. The charm of hand-spun wool, with its slight irregularities and natural shades, comes into its own as a contrast in modern interiors, but just as much in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country-house style. The foundation (weft and warp threads) of this Afghan is made of goat wool.