Antique Luri Bahktiari Saddle Bag

Buy oriental carpets 100% handmade area carpet and rugs from Tibet. Modern and traditional design. Armenian too! www.TufenkianCarpets.com	Can't afford Tufenkian Carpets? Visit the ONLY official Tufenkian carpet outlet. Discontinued and one of kind rugs. www.TufenkianOutlet.com	Need a custom area rug? If you can dream it, we can weave it. Custom area rugs by Tufenkian

Luri Bahktiari Saddle Bag

1 foot 9 inch by 2 foot 11inch.

This is a wonderful old Bahktiari saddle bag. I knew this bag was good when I bought it but after comparing it to James Opie's Tribal Rugs plate 8.9 I realized what a treasure I had. The diamond field pattern is comparable to Opie's,  The squat bird forms are very similar. To my eye the pieces look about the same in age and could have come from the same group of weavers. Opie dates his bag late nineteenth century and on careful examination I see nothing that would cause me to date mine later than his.

The color is extremely good and certainly looks vegetal. As most of you know I tend to be very conservative in dye attribution but this one has the jewel tones and all the right attributes for vegetal dyes. There is a gold that I am not that familiar with but I see it in other antique Bahktiari Bags. The colors are bright and clear with no fading or dye runs. While this is not conclusive but it is drastically better than later Bahktiari pieces.

Structure: Sumac plain weave and Symmetrical knot. 6 knots per horizontal inch and 6 knots per vertical inch. 36 per square inch (558 per square decimeter)

Yarn Spin: Z.

Warp: 2 ply white wool

Weft: Ground color.

Pile: 2 Wool singles.

Further Notes: The bag is in excellent condition. No holes, or tears, no bleeding. no problems at all. No visible repairs at all.

The back is as pretty as the front.

The colors are fantastic. This is as pretty a piece as you are likely to see. In the nearly cash-less economy that the tribes operated in it was difficult to store wealth in the good times. With no banks or stock market at their disposal women could make woven goods in good times and then sell them in bad times. It is also important to realize that women had a financial stake in the profit and weaving gave her money or trade goods for her own use. There was very limited means by which a women could accumulate wealth.

So by creating beauty a woman could increase he family's net worth as a protection against the bad times.

How Old Is This Piece?

First of all I know where this piece comes from. I purchased a number of pieces from a long time Washington DC area collector who is moving into a smaller home. I was fortunate because she called me on the recommendation of a prestigious area dealer. She had accumulated this piece in the late 60s and early 70s. She bought this piece as antique about 30 years ago and after seeing it in person I have no reason to doubt it. Of course then I compare it with a critical eye to the the dating of pieces in Tribal Rugs. I have handled a number of these but Opie has handled more that anyone of whom I can think.

The back is as pretty as the front.

Here we can see the vivid stripes of the bold colors seen in the best antique Bahktiari bags and we can also see the bird like forms seen in the best of the best.

Why are the bags stuffed? The collector who owned this for so long, felt strongly that bags are 3 dimensional art and should be displayed as they were used. With the back of the bag as beautiful as the front she certain has a point so I decided to leave them as I bought them. It does however make it difficult to get a good scan. (the high bidder will decide whether to leave this bag stuffed or to display it flat.