Primitive shaggy rug behemoth
Robert Cobcroft
Primal Nomad Rug Behemoth
Sub zero temperatures outside, inside a roaring fire hisses and spits like some primeval serpentine beast. Laid out on the floor is a pure woolen fantasy - the weavers dream, one of the most fanciful and extreme examples of a nomad weaving in existence.
About eleven decades ago somewhere in a stony West Afghan desert or on some windswept plateau, nomads with their donkeys and camels carried the mother lode of aniline dyes back to their camp. The bright orange and purple dyes required to colour the wool of this behemoth of a rug. We'll never know how many sheep gave up their coats that summer as contribution to this shaggy knotted primal weaving. Gnarly and impossible - how the weavers managed to complete the two halves of this rug and tie the knots to the warps is a mystery. In it's final rendering the natural shades of brown and black wool were combined with bright aniline dyed wool- some dyes now faded giving the rug an earthy warm patina.
About a century old and remarkably well preserved, the kilim ends are intact and all the pile is there. The women who wove this rug must have had some special purpose in mind, this rug is one of a kind. For the sheep that gave up their coats - two people are required to lift this woolly nomad bedding rug. If there ever was a nomad sleeping rug that was made for the express purpose this is the one. I have nine others and have seen many more, none come close to this example for sheer weight and density of wool in one rug. Larger than most 10'9" x 6'2".
Curled up by the fire on this rug is the only place to be when the mercury drops below zero.
