SOUTHPERSIAN TRIBAL WEAVING

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1Late 19th century Egyptian rug merchants with three piled saddlebags, two with hooked diamond forms. Other weavings

also look to be of south Persian provenance. Unknown photographer from Travelers in Ancient Lands:A Portrait of

the Middle East 1839-1919, Louis Vaczek and Gail Buckland, Boston 1981. Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum, New York

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2Luri-Bakhtiari pile chanteh, south Persia, ca. 1900. 0.28 x 0.30m (11” x 12”). In a powerful gabbehlike graphic, the

cotton heightens the visual impact. The bag uses various flatweave techniques on closuresand back. Authors’ collection
SOUTHPERSIAN TRIBAL WEAVING

PART TWO:KNOTTED-PILE SADDLEBAGS

unravelled themystery

ANN NICHOLAS & RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

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In this follow-up to their discussion of the use of south Persian tribal weavings in nomadic life in HALI 150, the authors focus on the evident lack of pile-woven saddlebags in 20th century photographs of nomadic life, and asks whether such specialised weavings were made as precious heirlooms for dowry use, or for the wider market.

LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS of nomadic life is a feast for a rug addict’s eyes. We have seen almost every weaving format. All kinds of bags – large and small, plain and highly decorated, bags holding salt, grain, spindles, and baby lambs, and even some no one has yet described. There are flatwoven cloths for blankets, baby cradles, holding baked bread, and covering the storage unit; animals with trappings, blankets, and bands; and an abundance of knotted pile rugs. We have examined hundreds of migration pictures, many show plainwoven bags and others flatweave patterns, some striped ( 7, 10 ) and occasionally an elaborately woven example ( 8 ). And yet, in over five thousand images we have neverseen any piled saddlebags. Why not? Since all the photographs are from the 20th century,

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