Bakshaish Kellegh

North West Azeerbaijan Persia
19th Century
227 x 530 cm

Kellegh’s, or wide format corridor carpets from the Azerbaijan area of Northwest Iran are not particularly common. Most carpets are of a standard rectangular format and primarily decorative in nature, many oversized. The present example is not only unusual in dimension however superlative in elegance and proportion. The absence of rectified symmetrical corner solutions in the borders is a indication that the carpet was not drawn out on a “cartoon” before being woven. The stylized geometric floral elements within the abrashed blue border and undyed white corner spandrels seem to be engaged in a whimsical dance of sorts and display notable spaciousness and delicacy . The magnificently saturated open red field is generally undesirable in standard sized decorative carpet formats but here adds a degree of notable distinction. The weaver, or weavers, were most likely then from a town or village in or nearby Heriz, possible even Bakhshaish, a village with notoriety for producing carpets of high artistic dexterity.