Dating to the last quarter of the 19th century, this mysterious runner or long rug from southern Persia has the hallmarks of a genuine tribal weaving. It has an all wool foundation, soft hand-spun wool pile and wonderful natural dyes. However, it is difficult to attribute it with certainty to any of the tribal groupings. The symmetric knot has been used throughout suggesting two main possibilities. One is that it was woven by the Khamseh tribal weavers around Shiraz. The borders and selvages also support a Khamseh attribution. However, other stylistic elements and the dyes also point to the possibility of Luri-Bakhtiar weavers of the Zagros Mountains. Regardless of the exact tribal attribution, it is a strikingly handsome piece. The field is composed of a row of five compartments four of which are decorated with hexagonal medallions and similar ornaments - a format often seen on bagfaces - while one compartment is filled with diagonal rows of polychrome octagons. It is idiosyncratic an...