Late 19th Century Shekarlu Qashqa'i Rug - 6' x 8'5

An exceptional Shekarlu rug with an unusually elaborate striped field, alternating saturated madder-red and deep indigo panels packed with an astonishing vocabulary of small motifs. Trees, rosettes, comb-like devices, lattices, geometric medallions, animals, and tiny human figures appear almost like a woven archive of tribal imagery, with scarcely an inch left unconsidered.

The drawing has the wonderfully improvisational quality associated with Shekarlu weaving with motifs that repeat, mutate, and reappear from stripe to stripe rather than following a rigid template. The result feels part rug, part visual sampler, rewarding close inspection with new details throughout.

The color is superb rich reds and blues enlivened by ivory, turquoise, green, yellow, and warm brown. The wool has the soft, lustrous character that gives good Shekarlu weaving such depth. Shekarlu rugs are generally associated with the Qashqai Confederacy though their precise tribal attribution has long been a subject of discussion among rug scholars. 

Size: 6' x 8'5" [183cm x 257cm]

Age: Late 19th Century

Type of Rug: Shekarlu Qashqa'i

Material: Wool

Pile Height: Low 

Condition: Very good. There are two areas near the end where the rug split and was seamed back together

BK2916

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