4.9 x 7.3 Important Antique Bidjar Rug, Vase Design, Northwest Persia, Circa 1900
Click image to view high resolution photo.
To view detail photo, place cursor on image and use arrows.
Of very fine quality and displaying a remarkable range of colors, this antique Bidjar rug was woven in northwest Persia’s Kurdistan Province, circa 1900. The design has its antecedents in Safavid Dynasty period (circa 1501 – 1722) “Vase” carpets.
In this Bidjar example, polychromatic palmettes with ancillary flowers decorate the navy blue field. Colors include a light brown which has oxidized; camel; chocolate brown; grass green; madder red; sky blue; yellow; bottle green; coral; teal; and ivory. A madder red border with sky blue guard borders frames the field.
Antique Persian rugs and carpets in the broader Vase design family include various iterations, including those with Sickle Leaves and those without, the most famous example being the 17th century Clark Sickle Leaf Vase technique carpet sold at auction in 2013 for a world record price of $ 33.765 million.
Versions of the Vase design were woven during the Persian carpet Revival period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Tabriz, the Kerman area, as well as in Bidjar.
The combination of fine weave, exceptional color and fine articulation of the design in this Bidjar make it singular, in our experience. If there is a better small format Bidjar rug with the Vase design than this example, we have never seen it either in person or in print.
A rare opportunity for a connoisseur to acquire a defining piece of Bidjar artistry.
Antique Bidjar rugs, along with their counterparts from Senneh, were woven in Kurdistan Province in northwest Persia. Unlike Senneh rugs, which feature a single knotted construction and a light handle, antique Bidjar rugs are known as “The Iron Rug Of Persia” and feature a double-knotted construction where one half of the knot sits almost directly over the other half, creating a dense, highly durable textile. Bidjar weavers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries utilized perhaps as wide a range of designs as in any weaving center in Persia, with the Harshang design; Afshan design; Herati design; Mina Hani design; and open field designs all being seen.