Doe and Hope

Description

Pleasingly busy, the field strewn with rosettes, stars and guls encased by a running dog border giving way to tarantula lozenges in each corner and a solitary central lozenge motif.

Shiraz rugs are the work or nomads and are fairly soft. Traditionally these rugs were knotted on a foundation of wool and cattle-hair, with a woolen pile. Qashgai tribes make these lovely rugs and many of them are collected for transport in the town of Shiraz in southern Iran.

Shiraz pieces are generally more loosely knotted than, for example, Qashgai rugs. The colours of the ground are red and blue, more rarely cream, and often rather defined. The design usually bears a stepped diamond out-line which encloses a number of stylized, geometrical animal and flower patterns. In rugs from this district the edges are often bound with different colours of worsted, and it is not unusual to find little tassels adorning them.