Old Afshari | 152 x 115 cm | Nr. Z-3094

Old Afshari

Delivery time	2 days
Origin	Persia
Dimensions	152 cm x 115 cm (= 1.75 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: wool
knots	150.000
Year of manufacture	1930
Condition	pre-owned, cleaned & partially restored
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

The Afshar (also spelled Afschar) were an important Oghuz tribe. The "i" in the name Afshari corresponds to our preposition "of". Afshari therefore means rug of the Afshar. Originally the Persian Afshar lived in the north-west of Iran, on the Afghan border. Part of the tribe was forcibly resettled in the south-east of Iran, near the city of Kerman on the Silk Road. Here knotting rugs became an important source of income for the Afshar. Ever since the resettlement, the Afshar have also been known for their distinctive hand-knotted Afshar rugs. Afshar rugs are sometimes traded as Sirdjan rugs as well. The rugs come in red and blue tones and mostly geometric patterns. The most widespread pattern has a field in the middle holding one or several square rosettes. It is thought that this central field depicts a stretched animal hide.

This Old Afshari is around 96 years old and a true collector's piece.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Old Afshari is more than 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural dyes and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant dyes is more complicated, more expensive and more time-consuming than dyeing with chemical colours. For a luminous red, for example, around one kilo of ground madder root is needed as dyestuff for every kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that is not too pale, it even takes two kilograms of the dyestuff weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is just as time- and labour-intensive. On top of that, fewer and fewer people still master the craft of spinning wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: dyeing with natural colours allows the high-quality wool to keep its natural oil content. Wool that has been dyed with natural colours and spun by hand creates 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 equally in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country style.

The foundation (weft and warp threads) of this Old Afshari is made of new wool.

Condition

This Old Afshari has already had admirers before you. It was knotted around 1930. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good condition, though only partly restored. The fringes could do with a repair. We have not fully restored this Old Afshari, because we feel it has a special charm just as it is. If that is what you would like, we will of course happily carry on restoring the rug for you. We can bring almost any rug back to near-perfect condition.