Style
Gabbeh
Every piece in this style, across all of our collections. Narrow them down by size and price.
- Under 6 x 9
- Runners
- 6 x 9
- 8 x 10
- 9 x 12
- 10 x 14
- 12 x 15
- Over 12 x 15
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Stories from the Gabbeh Archive
Essays, artist dialogues, and provenance notes drawn from Rug & Kilim’s editorial desk.
How U.S.–Iran Tensions Are Reshaping the World of Fine Rugs: From Safavid Courts to Sanction Regimes
There is a room in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where a sixteenth-century Persian carpet stops people mid-stride. Because something in the object itself; its scale, its silence, the particular authority of a thing that has already outlasted three empires makes the ordinary pace of a museum visit feel suddenly inappropriate. The Emperor's Carpet, as it is known, was commissioned in Safavid Iran, passed to Peter the Great of Russia, gifted to the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I in 1698, held by the Austrian Imperial House until 1921, acquired by the Met in 1941, and displayed publicly only twice in the following sixty years because its condition was too fragile to risk. It has survived more political systems than any collector alive today will ever witness. It knows something about geopolitics that no sanctions framework, no bilateral negotiation, no executive order has yet managed to articulate.
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Rug of the Week V: A 1920s Lion Mahal Rug and Persia’s Folk-Imperial Dialogue
Not all rugs whisper beauty. Some confront, some provoke, and some stand strong of their age. This 1920–30 Persian Mahal lion carpet belongs emphatically to the latter. Its scale alone commands attention, but it is its audacity of imagery—two lions poised across a crimson ground, punctuated by talismanic eyes—that distinguishes it from its peers. What could have been another workshop carpet for export markets instead asserts itself as an emblem of power, politics, and folk poetics. It is not only a rug to be admired, but one to be read. The Provenance: Mahal as a Crossroads Mahal rugs occupy a fascinating place in Persian weaving history. Located in northwestern Iran, the Mahal region became particularly significant during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as European demand reshaped Persian textile production. Western markets craved large-scale carpets for townhouses and institutions, and Mahal—situated near Sultanabad, a major weaving hub—supplied. These rugs often combined refined city-border designs with the looser, more organic hand of village weavers.
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A Guide to Horse Pictorials in Persian and Caucasian Rugs
Pictorial rugs with animals are extremely collectible, as few remain today and each is a one-of-a-kind treasure. This Persian-style design depicting horses in a gallop is inspired by Gabbeh tribal rugs and similar, rare forms of Persian folk art. Its pictorials depict triplets of running horses in beige and brown, orange and pink tones on a beige field. Keen eyes will further admire the striae of yarns that achieves an abrashed, textural look in the field and pattern colorway. https://rugandkilim.com/product/modern-classics/persian-style-rug-in-beige-with-brown-and-orange-horse-pictorials/?objectID=233169-0&queryID=23e2ef8df7aa9e9adc59d00b052e4fe5
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A Comprehensive Collectors’ Guide to Antique and Vintage Persian Rugs
The legacy of Persian rugs stretches back millennia, with historical references dating to the 4th century B.C. Xenophon, the Greek historian, marveled at the "soft rugs on which the Persians sit," marking one of the earliest recorded appreciations of these masterpieces. Explore More >> Persian rugs, with their rich history have long been revered as the pinnacle of floor covering artistry. These exquisite textiles, steeped in centuries of tradition, continue to captivate collectors, designers, and connoisseurs worldwide, gracing the most prestigious spaces from opulent palaces to renowned museums. This ancient craft has evolved over centuries, with each era contributing to the styles and techniques that define Persian rugs today.
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A Profile on Bauhaus Master Anni Albers – The “Godmother of Textile Arts”
Anni Albers's significance lies in her transformative impact on textiles, elevating weaving to the status of an art form. At a time when early 20th-century Western fine art was largely confined to painting and sculpture created by men, Albers broke through the conventional boundaries and introduced textiles as a legitimate medium for artistic expression. Her groundbreaking influence became evident in 1949 when the Museum of Modern Art hosted an exhibition solely dedicated to Albers's work, titled "Anni Albers Textiles" This event marked the first instance of a textile artist being featured in a solo show at the prestigious institution. The exhibition, which showcased Albers's innovative and artistic approach to weaving, traveled to 26 museums across the United States and Canada. Albers coined the term "pictorial weaving" for her intricate woven abstractions, emphasizing thread as a carrier of meaning.
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The Love and Lore of Persian Gabbeh Rugs: Rug & Kilim’s Rare New Curation of Classic Tribal Rugs
Elle Decor features a Forte Greene townhouse with our vintage 3x4 Gabbeh rug. Design by Home Studios and photo by Brian Ferry. If you've been keeping an eye on our antique and vintage collection, you have every reason to be excited, too. Many of its newest additions remark the most primitive rug style, and one-of-the-most collectible shabby-chic styles today. Gabbehs are known for thick, lush pile, vibrant colors and archaic geometric patterns. Gabbeh rugs descend from Qashqai nomads; more specifically, a tribe like many Persian tribes known to travel and carry their traditions. This is why so many Gabbehs are in small sizes, similar to antique and vintage Moroccan rugs. Gabbeh matriarchal weavers always had to break down and reassemble their looms to travel.
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