About the dealer
About the object
Fine early 19th-century Senneh rug from the Kurdish part of Iran.
With its muted colour scheme and the very fine weave, this is an elegant large rug.
Rugs with a white ground colour to the field are often associated with weddings, and it is likely that our example is a dowry piece. The white-ground field is decorated with an all over masi awita ("fish-around-a-lotus") pattern, which is also called a Herati design. The black-ground anchor medallion in its centre and the spandrels are in the same design and in the same, somewhat pastelly colour combination.The main floral border on a yellow ground is flanked by two minor borders with sweet pale flower heads on a light green ground.
The rug is in good condition, with the original ends in place. It has a wool pile on an all-cotton foundation.
For a discussion of rugs from this area, see James D. Burns, Antique Rugs of Kurdistan. A Historical Legacy of Woven Art. Burns 2002, particularly pp. 116 - 117.