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Shahsavan tribal confederation
Northwestern Iran

Bagface, 19th century

Before they were known to be made by the Shahsavan, tribal articles and bags like this one were all attributed to the Caucasus. The design of this example makes the confusion understandable: it repeats an eight-pointed device with stepped sides known as a "Lesghi star." The Lesghi were tribal peoples of the northeastern Caucasus, who may have had little to do with inventing the motif that the rug trade has named after them; the "Lesghi star" is actually a common ornament on pile rugs made throughout the Caucasus

The weaver of this sumak bagface has achieved a complex nesting, not only of one motif within another, but of "rug-within-rug." She has juxtaposed colors - such as the purple of the innermost "Lesghi star" and the orange around it - with spirited inventiveness.

J.B.