Ae Runge Rugs

Araby Rug Galleries - 305 US Route, ME 04105 One Gallery Hours Tuesday through Saturday, 10am - 5pm or by appointment207-781-3686inquiries@arabyrug.comThe staff at Araby loves it when a great rug ( in this case a Ghashang Bijar ) goes to a great family. It's even more special for us when we get to see the piece in its new setting!Our customers love our Gabbehs and often comment on how modern arty their designs are. I smile and remember how as a little girl in my grandfather and father's shop on Boylston Street in Boston, I would ask about the "funny wooly rugs" that didn't look like any of the other traditional pieces in our store. Rather, they looked like shaggy natural sheepskins with long fibers and spare, tribal designs if they had any design at all. My grandfather explained that they were rugs made by nomadic people from Fars Province, the Qashqa'i, Bakhtiari and Lors tribes who lived in the Zagros Mountains in Iran, all known collectively as the Qashqa'is. These rugs were functional objects much like the tribe's decorative salt bags and saddlebags-all useful items that moved with the tribes as they followed the animal migrations. They were for the tribe's use i.e. "for their feet only" meaning they generally were not sold to the West but used as sleeping mats, as wraps for their children on cold nights and to generally warm and cool the family tent.