Village Rugs part 1

(Posted on 25/07/13)

The term is not used in its literal sense to describe items produced in villages as opposed to cities or towns, but is applied more specifically to a broad category of rugs sharing common features of construction, character and design.  In the generally accepted hierarchy of oriental weaving, village rugs fall somewhere between nomadic and workshop products.  This is hardly surprising, since most villages have long occupied the middle ground between nomadic traditions and the evolving sophistication of the town often acting as a buffer between the two alien ways of life.  Many nomads have settled in villages, bringing with them their ancestral compositions and weaving techniques, and few villages have escaped the broader cultural and rug-making influences spreading outwards from the towns.  The result is a wonderfully varied fusion of these two dichotomous styles. Many villages, especially in Persia, which have long been associated with highly sophisticated work, have either ceased weaving altogether or produce so few examples that they now have only an historic relevance to the contemporary scene.  There are still number of villages groups which produce items of exceptional intricacy, but the majority possess the rough beauty and coarser associated with nomadic rugs.  They are usually sturdily rather than finely-knotted in good quality wool which, because of the thickness of the yarns, precludes the possibility of intricate designs.