Gabbeh | 205 x 155 cm | Nr. Z-326

Lightly framed Gabbeh, grey-beige with compartment pattern

Origin	India
Dimensions	205 cm x 155 cm (= 3.18 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool & viscose Weft & Warp: cotton
knots per m²2	200.000
Pile height	10mm
Condition	new
Colour	Grey-beige, bright colours
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 so-called compartment pattern of this Gabbeh recalls a lushly planted garden with geometrically laid-out beds, each one framed on its own. This design is so characteristic that rugs with a compartment pattern are also known as garden rugs. The individual panels of this Gabbeh's pattern show different motifs, yet follow a strictly symmetrical, rectangular arrangement.

There is a reason for this: large parts of Persia and many other regions of the Middle and Near East are desert- or steppe-like arid areas, where so-called irrigation horticulture is widely practised. Water is channelled to the beds through small irrigation canals. The panel pattern renders this irrigation system in heavily simplified form. Because of the dryness in these regions, blooming and verdant gardens are also something quite special. The panel pattern therefore probably goes back to the wish to bring a little garden – and with it a small paradise – into the home. In the Koran the term garden, as the earthly counterpart to paradise – a word of Old Persian origin, incidentally – appears very frequently.

The background of this Gabbeh is grey-beige. The border is worked in bright colours.

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. During dyeing, the natural dyes are absorbed to differing degrees. The rug looks livelier for it, with so-called abrash, colour shifts between lighter and darker shades. These changes in the shade of the pile yarn always run across the length of the Gabbeh and make the rug forgiving of dirt. The weft and warp threads of this Gabbeh are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic, which makes it especially suitable for a hard-wearing foundation.