Qashqai Rugs

The Qashqai are a large confederation of tribes.

They are the second largest Turkic group in Persia. The Qashqai are located in the Fars province close to Shiraz and Persepolis in South-West Persia.

The Tribe

It has been suggested that the name Qashqai is derived from the Turkic word which means horse with a white blaze: a symbol of good fortune to the Qashqai.

The Qashqai traditionally are pastoral nomads who migrate with their livestock on a seasonal basis. Although with the change from pastoral nomadism to more settled agriculture and other urban occupations many of the Qashqai have settled into villages and towns.

The Rugs

As with numerous other nomadic tribes, the Qashqai Rugs and Qashqai carpets are woven by women. Qashqai rugs have a woollen pile, with a woollen warp and weft, and are woven on a horizontal loom pegged out on the floor. The weft thread is usually distinctive in that it is usually a shade of red.

Although the rugs and carpets of the Qashqai are similar in style to those of Shiraz, the Qashqai product is of a higher quality. The weave is usually fine, heavier in weight and more importantly consistent.

These Rugs are typically geometric in style. They often contain motifs of stylised birds, animals, and flowers surrounding a diamond shaped central lozenge. The traditional colours are terracotta, red, madder, cream and blue.

Qashqai Rugs are also made as Kilims. A Kilim Rug is a rug without pile. It is a Flat-Woven Rug in which the weft threads form the pattern and the colours.

The Oriental Rug Merchant, 11 High Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1UL, UK

Specialists in handcrafted Traditional Rugs, Oriental rugs, Persian Rugs, Afghan Rugs in South East England serving Kent, Sussex, Surrey, London and the whole of the UK.

01892 533080

enquiries@theorientalrugmerchant.co.uk