This is an amazing tribal Baktiari Kelleh, circa 1890-1900, making it around 120 years old.  Quite possibly a wedding piece as the detailing of animals, people and in particular the family around the central medallion means a woman weaver could have created this to present to her family as a wedding gift.  They did this to show how skilled they were as weavers and offering the new family a gift.  Full of amazing natural dyes, the yellows are vivid and greens and reds too.  Unusual to see the crab design border as the main red border, this is more commonly used in Caucasian rugs from Azerbaijan.A tight fine weave with a good medium high wool pile all over this Southern Persia antique kelleh.  There are some 200 villages in the region of Baktiari, who all produced beautiful rugs around the late 19th century and in some quite striking designs. Pile height is very good all over this fun and interesting piece, which would brighten a hall or corridor, there are even some original kilim e...