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Specialists in Tribal Art & Textiles since 1972

The Baffling Baluch

"To make a complete catalogue of the misinformation which the rug fraternity hand on from one to another would need 'a painful man with his pen, and as much patience as he who wrote the Lives and Deaths of the Martyrs.'" H. G. Dwight. Persian Miniatures. 1912.

Rather than put in our two-pennies-worth about who the Baluch are and what a Baluch rug is, we simply direct you to a few web sites where the issue is debated. Generally, Baluch rugs - carpets, kilims and trappings - come from around the border areas of Iran, Afghanistan and the Pakistan province of Baluchistan. Most Baluch rugs do not come from Baluchistan. Baluch people moved as far as Sindh 200 years ago, and Baluch-style flatweaves are still made in Gujarat, India. Many groups in Afghanistan use similar wools and techniques to Baluch people, and their rugs are often hard to distinguish from Baluch weaving. Baluch weaving changes over time, and by the 1970s many weavers in western Afghanistan were weaving "Baluch" rugs, and Baluch weavers were weaving non-traditional rugs. We believe that all of the rugs we describe as Baluch fit a consensus definition of Baluch. They are all old, made in the tribal tradition. It is obvious that they come from different groups and from different areas of Afghanistan and Iran.

http://www.tcoletribalrugs.com/article10JA.html

http://www.spongobongo.com/Baluch.htm

http://www.rugreview.com/abala.htm

Sistan Baluch Weaving

In the last three years we have been able to acquire an unusual number of flatweaves which are described in Kabul as Sistan Baluch. Previously these had been quite rare in Afghanistan, although we had found similar bags and trappings in Baluchistan. The province of Iran joining south-west Afghanistan/Baluchistan is known as Sistan, but geographically the name Sistan refers to a basin incorporating parts of the three areas. The wars in Afghanistan have brought out many rare tribal rugs over the last 25 years, but it is probably severe drought that has caused the Sistan Baluch flatweaves to come on to the market. For many tribal people, their rugs represent their wealth, and they are only sold in time of need. Many of the kilims we've collected are very old. They have been used by the families only for weddings or other special occasions, and are often in very good condition. We describe these as "early C20", but they could be older. See Textiles of Baluchistan, by M.G. Konieczny, British Museum Publications, 1979, for examples of weavings and trappings. The book's perspective is from within the Pakistan province of Baluchistan, and unfortunately does not give a good overview of the origin of the weavings.

Shearing a Camel

For many years we were inclined to treat with suspicion assertions that carpets or kilims included camel wool in their structure. However camels do grow wool in winter and shed it as summer approaches. In the wool shedding season the Baluchis run their camels through an area of thorny trees and simply pluck the wool from the thorns. There is not a lot of wool, and it is never dyed. In the rugs the wool is soft - and camel coloured.

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