Old Wiss | 316 x 218 cm | Nr. Z-1775

Alter Wiss

Delivery time	2 days
Origin	Persia
Dimensions	316 cm x 218 cm (= 6.89 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) Weft & Warp: cotton
knots	120.000
Year of manufacture	1970
Condition	pre-owned and cleaned
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

This rug was hand-knotted in the small town of Wiss in the so-called Sarough region. Wiss lies on the road from Arak to Isfahan in western Iran. Almost every private household in Wiss has a knotting loom. Sturdy rugs with traditional patterns are knotted here. Typical of rugs from Wiss is the dominant hexagon as the medallion in the central field, framed above and below by a hooked lozenge.

The pile of Wiss rugs is traditionally dyed with madder-red plant dyes – obtained from the root of the madder plant (Rubia tinctorium).

This old Alter Wiss is around 56 years old and a real connoisseur's piece.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Alter Wiss 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 the dyestuff weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is time-consuming and labour-intensive 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 Alter Wiss are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic and therefore particularly well suited to a hard-wearing foundation weave.

Condition

This Alter Wiss has had admirers before you. It was knotted around 1970. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good but unrestored condition. The pile is slightly worn. The rug has a hole with a diameter of 2 cm. The fringes could do with a repair. The rug has a few smaller stains. We have not restored this Alter Wiss because we feel it has a special charm just as it is. If you would like us to, we will of course gladly restore the rug for you. Either way, this Alter Wiss will give you pleasure for decades to come.