Persian Lion gabbeh rug from Iran. 135x78 cms

A fun and visually striking Persian lion gabbeh rug whose bold, abstract design may remind one of Picasso’s work, though it arises entirely from the weaver’s own creative vision. The lion’s face is highly expressive, giving the piece a playful and artistic personality. Its body is charmingly decorated with goats, bushes, and round dotted motifs. Particularly delightful is the way the weaver has portrayed the lion’s claws—full of bright, vivid colours that enhance the rug’s lively character.

The border continues the rug’s improvised and imaginative aesthetic, with an asymmetrical and colourful composition that perfectly complements the spontaneity of the central design.

The wool is soft and shiny.

Material: 100% hand-spun sheep wool

Size: 135×78 cms

Origin: Qashqai tribe, Iran

Date of weaving: New

Traditionally a sleeping rug, a gabbeh is a hand-woven pile rug of coarse quality characterized by an abstract design that relies upon open fields of color and a playfulness with geometry. This type of rug is popular among the populations of the Zagros Mountains of Iran, including Kurdish, Luri and Qashqai people.The gabbeh is usually woven by women.

Gabbeh carpets are much thicker and coarser than other Persian carpets; sometimes they can be as much as one inch or 2.5 cm in depth. In fact, they are more a variety of kilim than carpet. The word “gabbeh” comes from the Persian گبه, meaning raw, natural, uncut. This is a rough and primitive carpet.

Gabbeh patterns are of a very basic kind with only a limited number of decorative, mostly rectangular objects, animals and vegetable motives. In a gabbeh usually bright colors, such as yellow and red, are used. Often undyed natural wool is used (brown, beige, black, white etc.). Although large fields of solid color are used in gabbeh designs, the color is variegated (the color varies throughout the rug, with the appearance of differently colored zones).