Persian Rugs the
O'Connell Notes
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
www.PersianCarpetGuide.com
Copyright
Barry O'Connell 2004 - 2009.
Last revised:
October 04, 2009.
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