Baluch prayer rug

Prayer rugs attributable to the Baluch weaving groups are often some of the more finely woven and expertly designed rugs in their repertoire. Often woven for trade or sale to pilgrims visiting the holy cities, they often a weaver’s best effort. From Khorassan, a present day province in northeast Persia, in the past it included parts of northwestern Afghanistan from where this rug may have come. The designs in the hand panels – a stylized tree (?) drawn differently in each – appear to incorporate elements common to Saryk Turkmen rugs from a region in Turkmenistan adjacent to the two. The kilim ends, though, suggest a possible provenance on the Afghan side of the present day political border separating the two countries. With a camel wool ground providing a welcome contrast in color with the elements of the ‘tree of life’ pattern dominating the field, it is an extremely nice example of the type.