Prayer rugs of this class are exceedingly rare. This is the only one the author has ever seen. It is extremely fine in texture, having twenty-eight Senna knots to the inch vertically and sixteen horizontally, making four hundred and forty-eight knots to the square inch, tied so closely that it is quite difficult to separate the pile sufficiently to see the wool or warp threads. The central field consists of the tree of life in dark blue with red, blue and pink flowers upon a background of rich red. The main border stripe carries the Herati design in dark blue and dark red upon a pale blue ground on each side of which are narrow strips of pink carrying alternate dots of red and blue. (See page 209) |