Old Afshari | 157 x 102 cm | Nr. Z-3100

Geometric old Afshari, dark blue with border

Origin	Persia
Dimensions	157 cm x 102 cm (= 1.6014 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: wool
knots per m²2	180.000
Pile height	5mm
Year of manufacture	1930
Colour	Dark blue, rust red
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

The Afshar (also Afschar) or Afshars were an important Oghuz tribe. The "i" in the name Afshari corresponds to our preposition "of". Afshari therefore means rug of the Afshars. Originally the Persian Afshars lived in the north-west of Iran, on the Afghan border. Part of the tribe was forcibly resettled to the south-east of Iran, near the city of Kerman, which lies on the Silk Road. Here rug knotting became an important source of income for the Afshars. Ever since that resettlement, the Afshars have also been known for their distinctive hand-knotted Afshar rugs. Some of their rugs are also traded as Sirdjan rugs. The rugs come in red and blue tones and mostly have geometric patterns. The most widespread pattern has a field in the centre holding one or more square rosettes. It is thought that this central field represents a stretched animal hide. This old Afshari is around 90 years old and a true collector's piece.

Pattern

The edge of the rug is graced by a surround (border). The border forms a wonderful contrast to the centre.

The abstract, geometric composition is what gives this Afshari its understated elegance. The pattern flatters the design of the room without stealing attention from the furniture, the décor or the architectural details. It creates a pleasant atmosphere without dominating the style of the room.

The background of this Afshari is dark blue. The border is worked in rust red, beige and dark blue.

Condition

You aren't the first to take a liking to this Afshari. It has had owners before you who valued and used it. It was hand-knotted around 1930. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good but only partially restored condition. The fringes could do with a repair. The edges are damaged in places. The pile is evenly worn. We haven't fully restored this Afshari because we feel it has a special presence just as it is. If that's what you'd like, we'll gladly carry on restoring it for you. We can bring almost any rug back to near-perfect condition.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Afshari is over 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, you need around one kilo of ground madder root as dyestuff per kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that is not too pale you even need two kilograms of the dyestuff weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is time- and labour-intensive as well. And fewer and fewer people still know how to spin wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: because it is dyed with natural colours, the high-grade wool keeps its natural lanolin content. Wool dyed with natural colours and spun by hand creates fascinating, shifting 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-house style. The foundation (weft and warp threads) of this Afshari is made of new wool.