Multicolor Anatolian-Pattern Handwoven Wool Rug, Afghan Shirvan

An Afghan Shirvan rug, handwoven in wool over a cotton foundation and measuring 160 × 190 cm (5'3" × 6'3"), which is close to square. Shirvan is a weaving region in eastern Azerbaijan, in the Caucasus, and its patterns — small geometric medallions set in rows — have been woven by Turkmen and Afghan workshops for generations.

01A line from the archive

A single piece. The field is drawn in the same angular vocabulary Anatolian village weaving uses: hooked medallions, stepped diamonds, small filler figures scattered wherever the drawing left room.

02Coming off the loom

That is why the house describes the pattern as Anatolian even though the loom stood a long way east of Anatolia. Multicolor here means the palette belongs to this piece alone, since a weaver works from the wool that has been dyed and is to hand. A near-square rug is the awkward one to place and the useful one to own — it suits a square hall, a bay, or the floor under a round table, where a long rectangle argues with the room. Afghan workshops are where a great deal of the world's handwoven wool now comes from, and the work is done on cotton warps, which hold tension better than wool and keep a large rug square.

03What Wool does

Cotton in the foundation and wool on the surface: two fibers doing two different jobs, and the reason the piece lies flat. This is old-fashioned production with no shortcut in it and no machine anywhere in the sequence. A rug washer does the cleaning. Handwoven in Afghanistan, with cotton underneath and wool on top. A Shirvan drawing — rows of small geometric medallions, angular throughout. 160 × 190 cm (5'3" × 6'3"), near enough to square to suit a square room. Multicolored, with a palette particular to this piece. Cotton warps hold the rug square; the wool does the wearing. A rug washer, not a machine. One of one. Square rooms are commoner than square rugs, which is the whole argument for this one.