Qashqai Qashqooli Rug

The Persian Ghashghai tribal group are a historically significant ‘confederacy’ which is made up of a group of once independent tribes inhabiting different areas within the south-west province of Fars. Fars was once the ancient kingdom of Pars, home to the important Persian royal city of Takht-i Jamshid and more familiarly known to us, from ancient Greek, as Persepolis; In turn, Persepolis, a ruin which is now a world heritage site and  close to the present day marketing town of Shiraz.

In brief, these independent tribes were formed into a confederacy in the 18th century by the then government to stop the tribes fighting and squabbling amongst themselves and enabling a single head to be identified and made responsible for maintaining the peace with the aim of collecting taxes and providing well trained equipped soldiers if needed for the greater good.  Despite their formal recognition in the 18th century, the tribes had been intermarrying and forming localised confederacies amongst themselves long before this official recognition, confirmed by the growing use of the Ghashghai title from the 16th century onwards.

The principal tribes that make up the Persian Ghashghai confederacy and which are known as weavers of rugs and woven artefacts such as bags and animal trappings, are the Kashkuli, Amaleh, Darrehshuri, Shish Boluki and Sherkalu. These are known as the ‘taifeh’ or principal tribes which can in turn be broken down into ‘tireh’, or sub tribes, namely the Bollu and Igde. Other tribal groups in the Fars area are the Lors and the Khamseh, and there are times when rug patterns, and motifs generally associated with one group can be cross fertilised and used by other groups of tribal weavers, which can occasionally muddy the waters in attribution.

Inevitably in Persian Ghashghai rugs, the styles of designs, the motifs, compositions and colours are shared amongst the entire group creating an accepted homogenous style. There are certain    motifs and styles of representation that can be attributed to a taifeh, and even a tireh.

This fine Persian Ghashghai prayer rug is from a specific identifiable group, classified as ‘millefleurs’ prayer rugs. This group of weavings are attributed to the Kashkouli taifeh, made  in village workshops by highly skilled settled weavers. These Persian Ghashghai prayer rugs are finely woven with dense knotting on a cotton foundation allowing for fine detailing to be created. This fine example displays wonderful characteristic geometrically drawn pattern motifs presented in an extensive range of sarturated jewel like colours against a rich saffron yellow back ground. Yellow is not a frequently seen background colour, though when seen presents a magnificent backdrop to create a highly decorative image.  Intriguingly the design is closely based on a rare and important small group of Moghul Indian prayer rugs made in Kashmir in the 18th century. Examples of these Moghul Indian prayer rugs are in the Osterreichisches museum fur Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, and in the Metropolitan museum of Art, New York. It seems likely that this design was introduced to the Persian Ghashghai weavers as a result of the military campaigns of the adventurist Nadir Shah Afshar, who sacked Delhi in 1739. Nadir Shah Afshar was based in Fars, so it seems reasonable to suppose this identifiable design was adopted by the Ghashghai weavers.

This Persian Ghashghai millefleurs prayer rug is a superb example from this small recognisable group of weavings, technically finely woven with soft lustrous wool, by highly experienced skilled weavers with the detailed pattern applied to a magnificent rarely seen yellow background.

Qashqai Qashqooli Rug. This piece was handwoven in Qashqai , Iran. For further information please contact us and our team will be pleased to assist you. All pieces in the collection are under the auspices of Essie Sakhai, one of the world’s foremost experts and collectors of fine handmade Persian rugs and carpets.