This kilim in a long runner format puts on vibrant display the drama and inventive potential of weaving as a medium for artistic expression. Its simple patterning is a masterfully executed tromp l’oeil composed entirely via a repeating grid of interlocking color blocks.
A Dazzling Antique Weaving with a Contemporary Vibe
Ten (and one-half) diamond medallions populate its central field, which resolves into a subdued checkerboard. The field alternates between red and blue. Due to happy variations in the natural dyes, the warm blocks range from bright vermillion red to darker carmine, the cool from cerulean to greenish seafoam. Each medallion is ringed in indigo and outlined from within by camel-colored wool. The entire piece is grounded by a sober border of toffee and rich, earthy brown.
Despite its age, the piece conveys an undeniably modern sensibility, its grid pattern evoking the digital grids that underlie so many elements of screen-based contemporary life.
Several weaving tribes produced ‘eye-dazzler’ rugs incorporating the interlocking motif found in this rug. Most often, the motif is attributed to Veramin, a caravan town southeast of Tehran, and the main market source of rugs woven in surrounding villages. Garmsar and Afshar attributions for such pieces are also possible. The present piece is unusual among such pieces, however, for its minimal border and the absence of a plain field, instead relying on a repeating pattern in shape throughout the field. Somewhat counter-intuitively, the resulting all-over design softens the piece and enhances its utility in contemporary homes or office settings.
