Antique Bijar Triple Medallion Persian Runner Rug, Navy Field, 1890–1910

An antique Kurdish runner from Bijar in western Persia, hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation.

Three medallions run the length of a navy field. The centre one is a long hexagon filled with a fine chequer and edged in a saffron sawtooth, the two at the ends carrying small ivory cartouches on dark grounds. Rosettes, combs and flower sprays sit scattered loosely between them, and the border runs a navy vine of angular palmettes over terracotta.

Partway along, the colour changes. A band of slate blue and sage crosses the whole rug, field and both borders together, and then the ground returns to deep red. That is a dye lot running out mid-weave. Because it crosses the full width at one height it can only have happened at the loom, and it is the clearest evidence there is of small hand-dyed batches rather than industrial colour.

The weave is multi-wefted with the warps depressed in the Bijar manner, on white cotton warps. That cotton foundation places the rug between about 1890 and 1910.

The ends are original and the fringes have never been replaced. On a village rug of this age that is uncommon.

Bijar has been among the most respected weaving towns in Persia since the nineteenth century, its Kurdish weavers known for packing the wefts hard and building rugs that outlast their owners. This one comes from the Garrus district nearby, and it was woven in the same house and by the same hands as its wider companion piece, which repeats its medallions, its palette and its border down to the smallest motif.

At 385 by 123cm it is a true runner, long enough for a hall or a landing. Explore more Persian runners.