Antique 1880s Persian Sultanabad Rug, Tree of Life, Wool, 14' x 17'

This Persian Sultanabad carpet circa 1880 consists of handspun wool and natural vegetal dyes. Created in the Sultanabad workshop of the Swiss artist Zigler, it is an extremely fine p...

This Persian Qashqai carpet circa 1880 consists of a pure handspun wool warp, weft and hand-knotted pile and natural vegetal dyes. Its rather unique and detailed geometric design exh...

This 1890s antique Sultanabad wool rug is a beautiful hand-knotted piece featuring a red field. It showcases multicolor accents in an all-over floral design, characteristic of Persia...

Antique oversize Persian terracotta Sultanabad rug, circa 1880. Size 17'6 x 23'9. This is a village carpet? Well, a rather large one, not your usual scatter 4 x 6 or room size 9 x 12. Sultanabad carpets were woven in the Arak/Markazi province, around the town of Sultanabad, from the mid-1880’s until WWI, under the aegis and contracts of Western carpet firms, primarily Ziegler and Hotz. Neither firm marked their carpets, but it has been the modern trade practice to attribute quality Sultanabad's to Ziegler. Ziegler had a centralized dye works, design studio, wool processing operation and washing facility, but no workshops, the actual weaving being farmed out to local household ateliers. The patterns were distributed via sampler mats (wagirehs), the knot density and color palettes were assigned, and sufficient wool and foundational cotton were also given out. This splendid carpet must have been woven from a set of extremely well-drawn samplers. The desirable rust-red madder field shows a classically derived allover pattern of knotted cloud bands, large and complex ragged palmettes, smaller palmettes, slender vinery, leaves and diminutive florets. The accent tones include cream, pale green, straw, and light brown. The taupe main border shows a repeating pattern of double barbed leaves, octogramme rosettes, trefoil palmettes, tilted petal palmettes and supporting vinery. A rust-red plain border frames the whole. The use of plain, field tone borders on larger Persian carpets...