For rug and tribal textile collectors worldwide, every year that passes by diminishes their chances of stumbling upon an old or antique tribal masterpiece that was woven from the heart. Woven items with an estimated age of 50 years plus are considered as being old, whereas anything estimated to be 100 years and over is considered antique.

The desire of many governments in the region to acquire technology as well as adopt certain Western practices to enable their economies to modernize, compete and move forward with the rest of the world is highly commendable. However, it does not come without its price. In the weaving world, modernization has proved to be anathema to the existence of the nomadic weaving tribes of Asia and to the tribal rug in particular. The Western concept of a real home of bricks and mortar has permeated through to many of the nomads throughout Asia. Instead of their traditional tribal tents, they now opt, albeit with a little encouragement from their governments, to settle permanently into brick homes and inevitably become sedentary. A new, unfamiliar, urban lifestyle for these former nomads does not require them to rear their own sheep. The wool for carpets is now being acquired commercially from the local wool merchant. The madder root, esparak, indigo plant, onionskin, walnut skins (to name just a few of the natural colour sources) are now redundant and being replaced by the Western-produced tins of synthetic colors.

The obvious downside of modernity, as far as rugs are concerned, is that the former free-to-roam spirit of the nomads which inspired the wonderfully lucid, and spontaneous designs of rug weaving has become caged. Consequently, rugs woven under these sterile, controlled conditions fail to show the tribal nuances that made them so desirable.

However, do not become disillusioned. It still remains possible to discover an old or antique rug worth buying. To do so, however, you will have to methodically sift through every pile of rugs that looks, feels and smells old. Persistent viewing on your part will eventually net you a seasoned masterpiece. An excellent example of an old 20th century rug was discovered in an erratic pile of rugs which were hidden from view in the shadows of a carpet shop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The rug was an Afghan Balouch, possibly from Herat.

The rug measured 171cm x 104cm. The warps are made from handspun wool and goat hair mixes and the wefts are made from dark brown wool. The pile consists of top quality, handspun lambs’ wool. The rug was woven on a horizontal loom using the Persian (asymmetrical) knot. The knot count averages an impressive 86 knots per square inch.

The weaver used seven natural colors to highlight her weaving; three shades of madder-root red, one shade of esparek yellow, and one shade of natural ivory-colored wool as well as two shades of natural brown-colored wool which include a top quality dark brown wool.

The main field color of the rug has a very deep, rich, medium-bright madder red with an intermittent abrash (different intensities of the same color). The main field design has 14 octagonal, Russian Turkoman, Salor tribe-styled guls (Persian for rose) positioned in two vertical rows of seven. Six secondary guls called chemche (another commonly used Turkoman symbol which means spoon) are placed vertically and centrally between the two rows of Salor guls. Each octagonal gul measures 28cm x 18cm with a scarlet red background.

The eight sides of the guls are outlined with apexes in ivory wool that are filled in with scarlet red. The apexes are referred to by the Turkomans as the Turkoman bride’s fingernail design. This design was also frequently used by the Iranian/Afghan Balouch weavers. The weaver has cleverly deceived the eye into believing that the 14 octagonal guls are individually spaced apart from one another radiating a sense of unrestrained freedom to the carpet design.

However, on closer inspection, the octagonal guls touch one another, which conveys to the eye a carpet design that is actually gracefully restrained, busy and detailed. The weaver has achieved this illusion by using opaque, light brown wool for the large outer apexes surrounding the guls, which the eye has great difficulty in distinguishing from a short distance.

The main border consists of an elegantly woven meandering fret design in rich dark brown wool called karakul. The main border is flanked on both sides with guard stripes displaying the Turkoman bride’s fingernail design outlined with ivory wool.

Clearly, an incredibly highly skilled weaver has produced this delightful rug. She has used the finest materials available such as lustrous, oily, lambs’ wool that was hand-spun and naturally dyed to perfection by a master dyer.

This rug is a fine example of a non-commercial rug that was woven from the heart and by a weaver who conveyed her free spirit through her beautiful weaving. Unfortunately, tribal weaving of this standard is no longer produced.

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- Arab News Features 4 September 2003