Old Gharabagh | 173 x 118 cm | Nr. 13621

Old Gharabagh

Delivery time	2 days
Origin	Caucasus
Dimensions	173 cm x 118 cm (= 2.04 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes)
knots	200.000
Condition	pre-owned, cleaned & partially restored
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

This rug was hand-knotted in the Karabagh (or Gharabagh) region of Azerbaijan. What is typical of Gharabagh rugs is the floral motif on a dark ground, found widely across the Caucasus. Other geometric patterns are knotted here too, however.

This Old Gharabagh is around 106 years old and a real piece for connoisseurs.

Material

The technique used to prepare the materials for the pile of this old Gharabagh 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 dyes. For a luminous red, for example, you need around one kilo of ground madder root as dyestuff for every 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 also time-consuming and labour-intensive. What is more, 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 Gharabagh is made of new wool.

Condition

This old Gharabagh has had admirers before you. It was knotted around 106. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good but only partly restored condition. On this antique piece it is above all the edges that need repair. There is also a tear about 8 cm long in one corner. In addition, there are slight fold and crease marks. We have not fully restored this old Gharabagh because we feel it has a special presence exactly as it is. If that is what you would prefer, we will of course gladly take the restoration further for you. We can return almost any rug to a near-perfect condition.