19th Century Antique Zabihi Collection Mohtasham Kashan Rug

Details

Description

a late 19th century Persian Mohtasham Kashan in pretty oranges and light blue.

Details
rug no. 8554
size 12' x … Read more a late 19th century Persian Mohtasham Kashan in pretty oranges and light blue.

Details
rug no. 8554
size 12' x 17' 5" (366 x 531 cm

The most rare group of Kashan carpets that utilizes non-traditional designs and color palettes is the “Motashem Kashan,” which were woven up to the end of the 19th century. This elite class of Kashan carpets uses a very luminous quality of lamb’s wool, which gives the surface a highly reflective quality. Quite hard-to-find, true Motashem Kashan rugs are extraordinarily finely knotted. They employ either a graceful teardrop medallion or intricately detailed all-over blossom and leaf patterns.

Their preferred color palette is subtle pastel and earth tones, contrasted by a penetrating midnight indigo blue. At the same time, these hues retain a remarkable luster, as the rich lanolin has risen to the surface of each fiber of wool.

Also, early Motashem Kashan rugs often demonstrate a very sensitive and emotive use of intentional color shading, a technique known as abrash. In Mohtasham Kashn carpets dating from 1850 or earlier, the abrash is usually subtle and continual, with artful colors shifts within a single design and from one end of the rug to the other. This gives the rug a painterly quality and a visual depth that is akin to that of a watercolor painting. Motasham Kashan carpets of great age with minor to moderate, extremely well-executed restoration and some pile intact are extremely rare and typically held in private collections. See less