Old Bijar | 87 x 66 cm | Nr. Z-1780

Old Bijar

Delivery time	2 days
Origin	Persia
Dimensions	87 cm x 66 cm (= 0.57 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: cotton
knots	300.000
Year of manufacture	1960
Condition	pre-owned, cleaned & partially restored
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

This rug was knotted in Bijar, in the province of Kermanshah in north-western Iran. Bijar rugs are among the sturdiest and finest Oriental rugs. The majority of the population in Bijar are Kurds.

In the Kurdish Bijar, a particularly thick and extremely hard weft yarn is beaten into the weave. The result is a board-stiff rug that is exceptionally hard-wearing. The younger Bijars in particular are decorated with the typical Herati pattern, also known as the fish pattern.

This old Bijar is around 66 years old and a real collector's piece.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Old Bijar 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 weft and warp threads of this Old Bijar are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic, which makes it especially well suited to a hard-wearing foundation weave.

Condition

This Old Bijar has a story to tell. It was knotted around 1960. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good but only partly restored condition. The fringes could do with a repair. We have not fully restored this Old Bijar, because we feel it has a special presence just as it is. If that is what you would like, we will of course gladly take the restoration further for you. We can bring almost any rug back to near-perfect condition.