Black Tank Border Runner w/ Airplane Burka
| ID# 147 | Date: 80s | -:- | Size 31 x 125 inches
(79 X318 cm) |
| Knots/Inch: 7 h X 9 | Origin: Afghanistan | Style: -Anomaly War Rugs, Other examples of this style | Tribe: Unknown |
| This rug is one of a pair of war rugs in a runner format from the Soviet era. Both are very beautiful and in good condition given their age. Both rugs have all the best qualities on looks for in war rugs. They have super wool, excellent sheen, interesting and unique patterns, interesting structural elements, and rich colors. The overall condition of this rug is very good, particularly given its Soviet era vintage. The condition issues are: there are a couple spots where a single knot is missing (see pictures), mostly from ""sarnach"" (means ""head of the tread, sarnach are spots where warp of weft threads have been tied to extend there length and there is either a small bump where the knot is or a tuft of foundation thread sticking up through pile.), there is low pile on one end, some of the ornamental fringe is missing (see pictures), and there is minor bleeding on one corner. These issues taken into consideration, this is a super rug. Beautiful wool, well knotted, interesting design, nice structural elements, gorgeous sheen. The color has softened from a blue black to a charcoal and purplish black. It has nice abrash. The white trucks in the border exemplify the beautiful wool used in this war rug. The design is very unusual with the clunky trucks and APCs in the borders and the artistically drawn airplanes on the inner guard stripe. The planes appear to be both fighters and bombers. Some war rugs feature a figure of a woman in a burka. These are mostly seen in the ""Golden Border"" style. This rug has the best example seen with one airplane showing the lattice face piece of the Afghan style burka. It is depicted in a grid of dots where the face is. This type of double imagery shows the craftiness of these Afghan folk artists to illustrate their human position in the world. This rug really demonstrates the benefit of an older rug, as well as how beautiful and older war rug can be. |
| Wool: Best quality | Sheen: Excellent | Handle: Firm, strong, floppy | Selvedge: Braided goat hair overcast which has suffered in spots. |
| Fringe: Long kilim skirt with weft substitution, weft brocade and supplemental fringe. Kilim has beautiful luster and is closed with overhand knots and nice fringe. | Pile: Low in places, but beautiful nonetheless. | Warp: Excellent quality natural wool | Weft: Double wefted with charcoal cotton. |
| Warp Depression:45 Degrees | |||
