Friday, April 8, 2011

Animal Design Balouch (Baluch or Belouch) Rugs

Balouch (Baluch or Belouch) rugs most commonly known as prayer rugs because of their size and design, are woven by tribes and clans in northeaster Iran around Mashad and in western Afghanistan.Woven on horizontal looms, they are usually no longer than 4 x 6 feet and are wool on wool meaning the warp and weft and the pile is made out of wool. The design of Balouch rugs usually consists of small flowers and motifs and simple geometric designs. There are no animals or other symbols used in these rugs due to many using them for prayers. This is because these complicated designs can distract a person while praying in addition to some believing that having symbols on a prayer rug is a type of idolization.




This unique animal Balouch rug, however, has a fair amount of use of animal designs with the main theme being the tree of life. There are different types of birds woven at the bottom of the tree of life with birds on each branch as the tree continues to the other side of the rug. On the other side of the rug there are birds woven facing the other direction making the observers question the direction of the tree. Due to the general design and the animals and birds used in this Balouch rug, it is fair to say that it was probably not meant to be used as a prayer rug specifically although the real reasoning behind this mystery can be openly questioned.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

1 comment:

  1. Excellent creativity!
    I think that these rugs can be perfect and suitable for big floor's.
    Large Rugs

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