Antique Malayer, Persia, around 1900

wool on cotton

Size:  202 x 134 cm

 

Antique rugs from the Malayer region embody a northwestern Persian weaving style that is best defined by its diversity in style and color. Malayer is a city located within the province of Hamadan. It is located between Arak and the city of Hamadan.

 

Local Persian village rug weavers produced a wonderful range of traditional carpet patterns from dense allover motifs to lozenge-shaped medallions such as this carpet with a finer Herati patterns at it’s centre on a deep indigo background. Malayer has been an important economic trade route through the centuries. The Malayer weavers were exposed to many travelers who came through the area. This allowed them to develop a vast repertoire of designs.

 

One of the charming constants of the Malayer rugs woven in Persia is the importance placed on creating richly detailed borders that rival the spectacular patterns featured within the field. This rug has an intricately woven flower and vine border in reds, ivory with highlights in blue. Weavers in Malayer consistently put great effort into creating exquisite borders as in this rug.

 

The rugs woven in the Malayer region constitute an important and distinctive group of Persian weavings. This rug has a quiet formality to it, and the weaver has given it a tribal feel, but at the same time, it seems as though it would fit into any formal area too, crossing the boundary between village and tribal weaving.