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  • Antique 1900s Shahsavan Caucasian mafrash panel with geometric patterns in natural wool pile
  • Antique 1900s Shahsavan Caucasian mafrash panel with geometric floral patterns in natural wool
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Rugistan

Antique Shahsavan Caucasian Mafrash Panel 1900s Natural Wool

550.00 USD
650.00 USD 550.00 USD
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Description

🏺 The Shahsavan Mafrash: Tribal Textile Art of the Caucasus

The Shahsavan confederation — their name meaning "those who love the Shah" in Persian-Azerbaijani — were among the greatest textile-producing tribal peoples of the Caucasus and northwestern Iran. From their highland pastures in the Ardabil region of what is today northwestern Iran, the Shahsavan moved seasonally with their herds in the great pastoral migration patterns that shaped the nomadic cultures of the Caucasus world. Their textiles — particularly the flat-weave and soumak pieces for which they are most famous — are consistently among the most prized in the Caucasian tribal textile tradition. 🌿

🧺 The Mafrash Panel

The mafrash is a rectangular textile storage box — a container for a nomadic household's most valued possessions, built from woven textile panels and used to carry belongings during the seasonal migration. The panels that form the sides of the mafrash are typically the finest weaving the maker could produce: decorated with the full vocabulary of Shahsavan geometric ornament and finished with care that reflects the importance of these objects in the nomadic household. A single mafrash panel represents some of the finest weaving the Shahsavan tradition has produced. 🏔️

This panel, dated to the 1900s, displays the characteristic Shahsavan design vocabulary: bold geometric motifs arranged in a carefully structured composition, the colors produced from the natural dyes of the Caucasian weaving tradition. The hand-knotted natural wool pile and wool foundation construction gives this piece its density and depth of color. 🎨

📐 Construction and Details

Hand-knotted in natural wool pile and foundation, made in the Caucasus Mountains. Circa 1900s. The piece measures 26 in by 18 in. Condition: good. Professionally cleaned and inspected. Item ID: KJ3. 🔬

💎 Shahsavan Textiles in the Collector World

Shahsavan textiles — particularly mafrash panels and soumak bag faces — are consistently among the most sought-after pieces in the serious Caucasian textile market. Their combination of exceptional design sophistication, beautiful natural-dye color, genuine antique age, and the specific rarity of the mafrash panel format makes them prized acquisitions for collectors of Caucasian tribal art. All rugs in the Rugistan collection are professionally washed and treated before listing. 🏆

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Returns & Exchange

Take your time — you've got a full six months. If a piece isn't right for you, send it back the way it reached you and we're good.

In the first 30 days your money goes straight back the way you paid. After that it's store credit, so you can put it toward something you'd rather have.

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If something arrives damaged, or it isn't what I said it was, send me a photo within 48 hours and I'll make it right.

Email [email protected] or call 802-356-9872 — that's me answering, not a call center.

The only things I can't take back are custom or special-order pieces and gift cards.

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