Old Koliai | 201 x 131 cm | Nr. Z-2902

Old Koliai

Delivery time	2 days
Origin	Persia
Dimensions	201 cm x 131 cm (= 2.63 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: cotton
knots	90.000
Year of manufacture	1930
Condition	pre-owned, cleaned & partially restored
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Koliai (also Koliajy, Koliahi, Koliay) rugs are rustic, hand-knotted rugs made by the Kurds of western Persia. Koliai have a relatively deep pile and a solid, voluminous weave using the Turkish knot, and some are knotted on a woollen foundation (weft and warp threads of wool).

When it comes to knotting rugs, the Kurds draw on all the classic provenances (source, origin). They don't copy the traditional patterns slavishly, though — they interpret them in their own way. The colouring in particular often differs considerably from the original patterns. Among Koliai rugs you will therefore find the most varied designs, but usually in a rather dark palette.

This Old Koliai is around 96 years old and a real collector's piece.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Old Koliai 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, 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 weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is labour-intensive and time-consuming too. On top of that, fewer and fewer people still know how to spin 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 Koliai are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic, which makes it particularly suited to a hard-wearing foundation.

Condition

You are not the first to take a liking to this Old Koliai. It had owners before you who valued it and lived with it. It was knotted around 1930. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good but only partly restored condition. We have not fully restored this Old Koliai, because we feel it has a special presence just as it is. If that is what you would like, we will of course happily take the restoration further for you. We can return almost any rug to a near-perfect condition.