An Unusual Bahluli?

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

Looking over some photos of my 'Baluch' rugs that haven't seen the light of day in a long while, I was reminded how unusual this one has always seemed to me. In fact, I don't think I remember any others with the same field design. Symmetrically-knotted, it has a wide range of blue shades, including the light blue the weaver used in the bottom of the 'boat' or 'ovadan-gyra' border that reappears in the center of the border at the top.

So, I figure the best way to find analogues is to speculate that your rug is unique.
If there are other similar rugs out there, let's see 'em.



Joel Greifinger

[Filiberto Boncompagni Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Filiberto Boncompagni]

Hi Joel,
I surely BET it's unique.
I could try searching the web but don't hold your breath.
Filiberto

[Guest Close Guest]

Hi Joel,

I think I can name that tune in one note...

Different palette though.

Regards
Chuck

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

So, I figure the best way to find analogues is to speculate that your rug is unique.

Hi Chuck,

Well, not unique then.

And, I found this one:



Perhaps some others will show up and we can move them into the “somewhat unusual” category.

Joel

[PaulSmith Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PaulSmith]

A friend of mine owns a pretty similar rug to yours, I think. I'm sorry that I'm slow to get rolling in the new T'tek. I keep having difficulty figuring out how to sign in!

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

Chuck,

The design of the rug that you posted is almost identical to mine, differing only in palette. All other analogues that I’ve seen have diamonds filled with notably different motifs. Do you know any more about yours, like the region where it was likely woven?

Joel

[Chuck Wagner Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck Wagner]

Hi Joel,

Well, there's that pesky term: know...

What I can say is that a couple conversations, a prior Turkotek chat, and what I've found on a few websites all indicate it's a Persian Baluch, from Khorasan.

Some of Barry O'Connell's stuff is still out there on Furniture.com; he had a very similar one - a photo from an auction house that had attributed it to Torbat-e-Jam. And it may have been something that Tom Cole had (has?) on his site that pointed at Torbat-e-Haydari. Both are in Khorassan, and as I recall the Bhaluli are supposed to have been localized in the Birjand region also near Torbat-e-Haydari.

The borders on your and my piece are very often attributed to Khorasan; those on the ones that you and Paul found shows look more like a NW Afghan style (Paul) and western Afghan style (Joel), maybe near Herat for Paul and more like northern Sistan for your find.

But the regions are adjacent so in a larger sense they all fit.

So, what I -know- is next to nothing, but a lot of apparently independent indicators all point toward Khorasan for sure.

Regards
Chuck

[Joel Greifinger Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Joel Greifinger]

Hi Chuck,

The minor border is of particular interest. It has appeared on at least one rug attributed as Bahluli (Hali #171), which, as you say, points to the area in Khorasan around Torbat-e-Haydari and Qain:


The Boucher collection included an asymmetrically-knotted bag from Torbat-e-Haydari with the design on a dark ground:



I suspect the pile version descends from this 'Baluch' weft-substitution pattern:



While the other rugs posted have some design similarities in the arrangements of the diamonds in the field, I would still put your rug with the OP piece in a group that, so far, only contains two.

Joel