Gabbeh | 139 x 78 cm | Nr. Z-1504

Mottled Gabbeh, light red

Origin	Persia
Dimensions	139 cm x 78 cm (= 1.08 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool Weft & Warp: wool
knots per m²2	90.000
Pile height	12mm
Year of manufacture	1980
Colour	Light red
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Gabbeh rugs are knotted by nomads living in the province of Fars, near the city of Shiraz. In Persian, Gabbeh is the name for high-pile rugs that were slept on. Classic Gabbeh have inventive, naive geometric patterns and are full of colour. Modern Gabbeh today mostly come in plain and monochrome designs. Even now, though, the rugs also carry stylised patterns from everyday nomadic life, such as goats, camels, dogs, plants or people. Gabbeh rugs usually come in natural cream, brown and grey tones, but you can also find lively yellow, red or blue.

Pattern

The surface of this Gabbeh has a mottled look. The shifts in tone and the light-and-dark shading of the pile yarn make the colours shimmer and help the rug hide soiling. These so-called colour shifts, known as abrash, give the rug a livelier character. The mottling occurs because the wool for this Gabbeh was hand-spun. During dyeing, the natural pigments are absorbed to varying degrees.

A lightly suggested border frames the edge of this rug.

The background of this Gabbeh is light red. The border is worked in dark blue and beige yellow.

Condition

This Gabbeh has a story behind it. It was hand-knotted around 1980. It has been thoroughly cleaned and is in good but only partly restored condition. The edges are damaged in places. We have not fully restored this Gabbeh because we feel it has a special charm just as it is. If you would like us to, we will of course gladly take the restoration further for you. We can bring almost any rug back to near-perfect condition.

Material

Gabbehs are hand-knotted from hand-spun wool and dyed with natural colours. The hand-spun wool gives the rugs a grainy yet soft surface. Traditionally, Gabbeh rugs were used for sleeping. They invite you to sit and lounge about in the living room, but they are also excellent for hallways and dining areas.

Hand-spun wool is always a little irregular. When it is dyed, the natural pigments are taken up to differing degrees. This makes the rug look more alive, giving rise to what are known as abrash colour shifts, that is, light and dark shadings of the same colour. These changes in the shade of the pile yarn always run across the length of the Gabbeh and make the rug forgiving when it comes to dirt. The foundation (weft and warp threads) of this Gabbeh is made of new wool.