Gabbeh Weeping Willow Rug, Hand-Knotted Wool, 2x3, Ivory & Slate

Details

Description

A small hand-knotted Gabbeh rug in the Persian Gabbeh tradition, worked in bands of soft ivory and slate blue and … Read more A small hand-knotted Gabbeh rug in the Persian Gabbeh tradition, worked in bands of soft ivory and slate blue and planted with rows of weeping willows in madder, indigo, olive and brown. Hand-spun wool, knotted by hand.

Four willows stand across the ivory band at each end, their branches drooping in fine feathery sprays — the bid-e majnun, the weeping willow, which in this weaving tradition is set among the cypresses as the tree of longing. Each one is drawn differently and coloured differently, and small goats, camels and dogs stand in the ground between them.

Between the two ivory bands runs a slate blue field scattered with small flowering plants and crossed by a band of scrolling boteh in madder and gold. What makes the rug is how the grounds meet: rather than a hard edge, the weaver has blended the two wools knot by knot into a long mottled transition, so cream fades into slate the way light fades across a hillside. That shading is done by hand, strand by strand, and it is the most demanding part of the whole rug.

Condition: hand-knotted with a full even pile throughout, no wear, no repairs, no odour. Selvedges are intact and both ends finish in the original hand-tied fringe with coloured tassels.

Measuring 24 by 36 inches, it suits an entry, a bedside, a kitchen, a bathroom or a child's room, and it layers well over jute or sisal. The ivory and slate palette is the easiest of all to place, and a rug this size and this detailed also hangs well as a small woven picture. See less