Guide to Khamseh Confederation Rugs

Khamseh Rugs: The Opie Khamseh Lion Rug 2nd half 19th

The Khamseh Confederation

Khamseh Confederation rugs fit into my "Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guides" section as a group of related rugs of rugs centering around Fars province. These rug are predominantly woven by weavers who speak Persian Azeri and Arabic. Workshops are the main impetus with even the lesser work copying the greater.

In 1861 - 62 The Persian Shah Naser ed-Din created the Khamseh Tribal Confederation. He took 5 tribes, the Arab, Nafar, Baharlu, Inalu, and the Basseri and placed them under the control of the Qavam ol-Molk family. Khamseh is the Arabic word for 5 and the confederation gets its name from that. Combining tribes was not a new idea the Safavid Shahs created many Kizilbash confederations. The idea was that the Qashqai were gaining so much power that the Shah wanted to create a counter to Qashqai power in the region.

The Arab, Nafar, Baharlu, Inalu, and the Basseri were a mixed lot of Turks, Luri, and Arab. However they all came to be called Arabs in contrast to the Turkic Qashqai.

Bassiri Juval Bassiri Tschowal

Khamseh rugs tend to be most like their Qashqai neighbors in construction. As a general rule Qashqai rugs are more likely to have white or light tan warps and Khamseh rugs are more likely to have dark wool wefts. In color Qashqai tend to be brighter and Khamseh are more muted.

Warps 2 ply wool mostly tan and darker, some use of "barberpoled" warps - two different shades plied together.

Wefts; 2 shots 2 ply brown wool.