Lot 170

A KASHKALI RUG

An old carpet from Southwest Persia from the Kashkai community (probably a Shekarlu clan group) on a wool warp with kelim borders is in a very nice purely natural colour of berries, leaves, roots, etc. This creation from the province of Fars (centered in Shiraz) is a beautiful testimony to the quality of Kashkali work, which is still highly sought after by collectors today, and whose durability, as well as colour fastness, testifies to the mastery of the craft of carpet making in both nomadic and semi-nomadic Kashkali communities. The famous design, known as the "moharramat", densely reflects the vase tree of life in vertical stripes, surrounded in a dramatic border by (not only) the Kashkali symbol of ram's horns and so-called magic diamond-shaped meshes.