The Arab
Baluch
The pile rug weaving group of the so-called
Arabs also needs to be mentioned, more because of
geographical proximity than because of
similarities of their carpets with those of the
Baluch. These Arabs are almost without exception
villagers, who became sedentary a long time ago,
and who derive their name -- maybe out of reasons
of prestige -- from those Arabs who Islamized
their homeland in the 7th century. Their main
settlements are in the area of Ferdows with
Ayask, Arisk, Dohuk, Seghale, and Serayan as the
most important pile rug weaving centers in 1951.
Motifs, structures, and colors of those farmers'
carpets seldom resemble products made by Baluch
from the same area2. Apart from a few exceptions
most of the pieces are coarsely knotted, had a
long pile and were very colorful. They were a
favorite among the rich Arabs from the emirates
of the Persian Gulf, who preferred the summer in
Iran to that of an even hotter home country. The
demand caused an almost assembly-line type of
cottage industry , a general degradation of the
product, and to a very superficial reproduction
of the patterns. We see very crude Afshar designs
in the central field and even more so in the
borders. These pile rugs must, however, not be
confused with other carpets that also have a
distinct Afshar influence, that were without
doubt made by Baluch in Sistan, about 500
kilometers from Ferdows. In contrast to Arab
products, these Sistan Baluch rugs have central
fields rich with small, carefully designed motifs
and a stepped and/or incised central medallion,
similar to those on runners made by southeast
Iranian Afshar (Fig. 2.). The main border has an
alternating latch-hook pattern, which is favored
by some Baluch groups, but is originally a
Turkoman pattern (Fig. 3).
As a rule the fabric structure of these rugs
points to Baluch weavers. Some fabrics from very
small groups, who were semi-nomadic at least
until 1960, and who call themselves and are
called by their neighboring Baluch, Arabzadeh,
descendants of the Arabs, show how difficult it
is to classify the rugs. In 1955 a group of 50
Arabzadeh could be in close neighborhood to the
Moreidari and the Said-Mohammad-Khani in the
eastern Djulghe Khaf. The few small pieces they
had woven, however, were not distinguished from
those made by the Moreidari (Fig. 4). Wegner's
Pile Rugs of the Baluch and Their Neighbors
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