"Extensive text, beautifully-written and well-researched, this book leads us through many historical and geographical adventures and towards a plethora of full-colour plates...These pages ground us by sharing a complex culture expressed through an object of practical simplicity." —Ptolemy Mann, SelvedgeThe Michael and Amy Rothberg Collection of knotted-pile tribal and nomadic bags and other rare small format pile weavings, among them many pieces made for women's dowries and other ceremonial functions, is recognized as the best of its kind anywhere in the world. The collection has been carefully and thoughtfully assembled over the past four decades. Michael Rothberg's collections are above all distinguished by the collector's acutely sensitive and perceptive eye for the best museum-quality material available on the international market. Specialists in the field and other collectors and tribal weaving enthusiasts have awaited the publication of this part of the Rothberg Collection for many years, ever since a selection of the material was shown at Sotheby's in Los Angeles in a feature exhibition during the American Conference on Oriental Rugs in January 1996. The scope of the collection includes antique pile bags, from the Transcaucasus region, as well as from the Shahsavan, Kurdish, Varamin region, Qashqa'i, Khamseh, Luri, Bakhtiari, Afshar and Baluch tribes of Iran.

Michael Rothberg is a San Francisco Bay Area collector of antique carpets and rugs, and a careful and methodical expert on the genre, with many years experience of acquiring only the best for his collections.

FOREWORD 7 PREFACE 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11 INTRODUCTION 13 I. CONTEXT 17 EARLY RUG WEAVING 19 NOMADIC PASTORALISM 20 SHEEP, GOATS, AND OTHER ANIMALS 23 THE ROLE OF NOMADIC WOMEN 25 TRANSPORT BAGS 26 PERSIAN SADDLE BLANKETS 28 TRIBAL DESIGN ORIGINS 29 ASPECTS OF DESIGN 31 THE ROSETTE 34 SYMBOLISM 40 THE PLATES – OVERVIEW 41 2. TRANSCAUCASIA & NORTH PERSIA 45 2.1 TRANSCAUCASIA 46 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 47 DESIGN TRADITION 48 TECHNICAL PROFILE 50 PLATES 1–26 52 2.2 THE SHAHSEVAN CONFEDERATION 86 HISTORY 87 SHAHSEVAN WOMEN 91 DESIGN TRADITION 91 TECHNICAL PROFILE 92 ARRANGEMENT OF PLATES 27–44 92 PLATES 27–44 94 2.3 PERSIAN AZERBAIJAN 120 HISTORY 121 THE TRIBES OF AZERBAIJAN 123 TECHNICAL PROFILE & DESIGN TRADITION 124 PLATES 45–71 126 2.4 THE KURDS 170 HISTORY 171 RELIGION & WOMEN 172 THE JAF KURDS 172 TECHNICAL PROFILE & DESIGN TRADITION 173 PLATES 72–94 176 2.5 varamin 210 THE TRIBES 211 ATTRIBUTIONS 212 WEAVING FORMAT & DESIGN TRADITION 212 TECHNICAL PROFILE 214 PLATES 95–110 216 3. SOUTH & EAST PERSIA 239 3.1 THE AFSHAR TRIBES OF KERMAN PROVINCE 240 HISTORY 241 DESIGN TRADITION 242 TECHNICAL PROFILE 244 PLATES 111–137 248 3.2 THE KHAMSEH CONFEDERATION 288 THE TRIBES 289 TECHNICAL PROFILE & DESIGN TRADITION 292 PLATES 138–154 294 3.3 THE QASHQA’I 320 HISTORY 321 ECONOMY 321 RELIGION 322 Qashqa’i WOMEN 322 DESIGN TRADITION 324 TECHNICAL PROFILE 325 PLATES 155–177 326 3.4 THE LURI 362 DESIGN TRADITION 363 TECHNICAL PROFILE 366 PLATES 178–194 368 3.5 THE ‘BALUCH’ 392 THE TRIBES 393 DESIGN TRADITION 395 TECHNICAL PROFILE 396 PLATES 195–205 398 TECHNICAL DETAILS & PRIOR PUBLICATION 414 NOTES 425 BIBLIOGRAPHY 428