The city of Shiraz is the seat of Fars Province in southwestern Persia and has been an urban center since at least the first millennium B.C.E. While nearby Persepolis (“City of the Persians”) was the ceremonial and administrative royal capital under the Achaemenid Dynasty, Shiraz, the city of roses and nightingales, has been more oriented toward the arts and commerce. It was briefly the capital of Persia under the Zand Dynasty in the second half of the 18th century. The famous Persian poets Hafiz and Sa’adi both worked in Shiraz in the medieval period.
Shiraz is the center of a large, semi-arid region with numerous migratory and semi-migratory tribes dependent on a pastoral economy. Where there are sheep, there are rugs. The two main tribal groups are the Turkic Qashqai tribe, still mostly seasonally nomadic, and the somewhat more settled Khamseh Confederation of Turkic, Persian, and Arab tribes. The Khamseh Confederation was created in the 19th century as a political balance to the Qashqai. Both groups weave pile rugs with primarily all-wool construction. The Qashqai also weave slit-tapestry technique kilims. The more mobile Qashqai live in black goat-hair tents floored with kilims and simple, geometric Gabbeh pile rugs. The more settled Khamseh tend to live in [...]
The city of Shiraz is the seat of Fars Province in southwestern Persia and has been an urban center since at least the first millennium B.C.E. While nearby Persepolis (“City of the Persians”) was the ceremonial and administrative royal capital under the Achaemenid Dynasty, Shiraz, the city of roses and nightingales, has been more oriented toward the arts and commerce. It was briefly the capital of Persia under the Zand Dynasty in the second half of the 18th century. The famous Persian poets Hafiz and Sa’adi both worked in Shiraz in the medieval period.
Shiraz is the center of a large, semi-arid region with numerous migratory and semi-migratory tribes dependent on a pastoral economy. Where there are sheep, there are rugs. The two main tribal groups are the Turkic Qashqai tribe, still mostly seasonally nomadic, and the somewhat more settled Khamseh Confederation of Turkic, Persian, and Arab tribes. The Khamseh Confederation was created in the 19th century as a political balance to the Qashqai. Both groups weave pile rugs with primarily all-wool construction. The Qashqai also weave slit-tapestry technique kilims. The more mobile Qashqai live in black goat-hair tents floored with kilims and simple, geometric Gabbeh pile rugs. The more settled Khamseh tend to live in rustic, mud-brick houses. Both groups weave colorful saddlebag sets. Gabbeh rugs have become quite popular of late and there is now a sizable commercial production of these quirky, amusing, well-woven tribal creations.
The styles are generally geometric with pole medallions, latch hook color transitions and close scatter background fills. The palettes are bright and cheerful, with deep blues, vibrant reds, clear greens, yellow, and ecru. The antique rugs use only natural dyes – madder for the red, indigo for the blue, vine leaves or weld for the yellows, indigo plus yellow for the greens, undyed wool for the ivory. The Qashqai employ almost exclusively the Turkish or symmetric knot, befitting their Turkic origin, whereas the Khamseh utilize both symmetric and asymmetric (or Persian) knots. Each group has its specialties. Gabbeh (“unclipped”) starkly geometric scatters and lion rugs are Qashqai specialties, while numerous chickens are a Khamseh design trope. The allover Herati and boteh designs, imported from more urban Persian sources are recurrent features. The Qashqai also weave fine and dense prayer rugs, primarily by the Qashghuli sub-tribe around the picturesque town of Firuzabad. At each end of most antique Qashqai rugs is a black/ecru checkered band and this extra finish has been taken up by the Khamseh as well. In the Turkic Qashqai it probably references the extra elem panels on Turkmen rugs. Antique Qashqai kilims, with their areas of saturated color and totally stylized designs are both collectible and authentic.
Piles are generally short, with medium to fine weaves, and double wefts. Warp, weft and pile are all handspun. The Qashqai wool is more resilient, and the knots are packed closer together with a resulting firm handle, while the Khamseh wool is softer, the knotting yarn thinner and the rugs have less leathery handles. This distinction applies primarily to antique pieces since the leveling effect of commerce has pushed them closer together. The tribal looms are generally fairly small and set horizontally on the ground, as opposed to the larger vertical ones in urban workshop use. Most Shiraz origin pieces are in the 4’ by 6’ or 5’ by 7’ format, although some large, antique carpets can be found. Runners are a Baharlu Khamseh specialty. The best Qashqai rugs come from the Qashghuli, Shikarlu and Rahimlu sub-tribes, while the Baharlu and Ainalu weave the best Khamseh pieces. The weavers do not employ scale paper cartoons or sampler mats, but work from their imagination, referencing rugs previously seen, the world around them, and various pictorial sources from postcards to military lion blankets. Today, the weavers
are highly professional and can create anything, with any knotting density, surface texture, palette, pattern, and format on demand.
The weavers are all women, working on their own accounts or under a cottage industry putting-out scheme. Weaving takes place outdoors in the spring and these rugs are marketed in the Shiraz bazaar in the autumn. Most of the best antique Shiraz rugs are in American or European hands and it is rare to find a truly antique piece in Shiraz coming directly from local sources. There was a vogue for collecting these rugs in the 1970s and 80s, and they are among the most underestimated, under collected authentic tribal, folk art anywhere.