Ziegler | 331 x 250 cm | Nr. Z-4499

Floral Ziegler, beige with border

Origin

In 1883, a Swiss merchant by the name of Ziegler founded an English import house called Company Messrs. Ziegler & Co. Ltd. in Manchester, England, and at the same time a rug manufactory in Sultanabad (today Arak, Iran) in the Mahallat region.

This is one reason why the area around the city of Sultanabad grew into an important centre for knotting Persian export rugs. The rugs known as Ziegler-Mahal, or simply Ziegler, were knotted in the surrounding villages to Western specifications for colour and pattern. This mixture of European design briefs in a lighter, calmer palette with classic patterns in the style of Farahan and Sultanabad rugs went down very well in Europe.

The success was enormous, and Ziegler rugs became an international mark of quality. The exquisite flow of the many-petalled flowers is particularly impressive in Ziegler rugs. Well-preserved antique Ziegler rugs fetch record prices today – above all in the USA. For some years now, these antique Ziegler designs have been re-knotted in high quality in Pakistan and India.

The newly issued Ziegler rugs, made from hand-spun wool dyed with natural colours, are part of a revival of hand-knotted rugs. This return to traditional techniques began in the early 1980s, driven not least by the so-called DOBAG initiative. At first the reproductions focused on the Ziegler rugs described above. In time, almost every traditional Persian pattern was being reproduced. The result: adaptations of antique rugs alongside contemporary designs with the charm of an antique piece.

Pattern

The edge of the rug is framed by a surround (border). The border forms a splendid contrast to the centre.

The lavish floral motifs of this Ziegler are elegantly drawn and full of variety. The graceful plant symbols, depicting blossoms, leaves and branches, are artfully intertwined.

The surface of this Ziegler has a mottled look. The shifts in tone and the light-and-dark shading of the pile yarn make the colours shimmer and keep the rug forgiving of dirt. These so-called colour variations, abrash, give the rug a livelier appearance. The mottling comes about because the wool of this Ziegler was hand-spun. During dyeing, the natural dyes are absorbed to differing degrees.

The background of this Ziegler is beige. The border is worked in beige and light red.

Condition

You're not the first to take a liking to this Ziegler. It had owners before you who valued and used it. It was hand-knotted around 1990. We've cleaned it thoroughly and restored it with care. Despite its age, it is therefore in very good condition.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Ziegler is more than 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural colours and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant colours is more involved, 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, it even takes two kilograms of weld dyestuff per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is time-consuming and labour-intensive too. On top of that, fewer and fewer people still master spinning wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: because it is dyed with natural colours, the high-quality wool keeps its natural lanolin content. Wool dyed with natural colours and spun by hand creates fascinating, shifting 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 also in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country style. The weft and warp threads of this Ziegler are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic, which makes it especially suited to a hard-wearing foundation weave.