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Special Thanks to to Dr.
Khosrow Sobhe who furnished these pictures of the
weavers who weave his rugs. Please note the color. Dr. Sobhe
with Abbas Sayahi has
been a strong proponent of returning to the use of
natural dyes.
Vist Guide to
Persian Kilim and Sumac Rugs and Covers
Rarely will an Afshari identify
themselves as such. Who then are the Afshar of present
day Iran. In the 16th century the Afshar were a large and
populous tribe of Oguz-Seljuk descent. Then in conflict
with the Safavid rulers the Afshar tribe was militarily
defeated and dispeared throughout Iran and even into
Eastern Turkey. So when we look at the Ethnograpic
surveys of Iran the Afshar are not as visable as the
Bakhtiari, Luiri, Qashqai, or Baluch. Howeevr they are
still idenifyable by language. An Afshar weaver is one
whose "Milk Language" is the Afshar or Afsar
dialect of Souther Azeri.
On a wider loam more than one weaver is
not unusual.
Better looms allow a weaver to weave
better rugs. Here we see a steel frame loom which makes a
beter rug than one of wood
The weaving today is not remarkaly
different than that of 100 years ago. I toured a
Sotheby's Auction Preview with Dr.
Khosrow Sobhe and he stopped in front of one antique
Afshar sumac and remarked that his weavers still wove
that pattern.
Pictures of current Sobhe Afshar rugs
A small notre about these images. There is a yellow
cast to these pictures. I tried to tone it down but it is
difficult to remove with the tools I use. The
yellow/orangey hue is a result of incandescent lighting.
A normal light bulb gives a yellow/orangey hue and
florescent adds green. A flash is normally neutral but
sometimes even with a flash we get the yellow of the
More Oriental Rug Notes by
Barry O'Connell
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