A rare early Farahan rug, with a beautiful classical drawing and stunning early dyes, dating from around 1870-1880..  On a rare natural off-white neutral background, a deep blue medallion and rich red corner spandrels, the pale blues are beautiful dyes too. The design is similar to that of the finest Mohtasham Kashan rugs, but the weave of soft cotton single weft and colour palette, and slight variation to the drawing say otherwise.  As Fereghan was not far away from Kashan in the Arak district, it is easy to see how weavers travelled and took influence from other weaving areas.  The result is an exquisite, complex design of scrolling flowers and vines, the intensity of the colours is something to behold.The pile height is cut very fine and it has a medium to low pile in areas, some minor wear apparent, please view all the additional images.  It is missing one minor border at the bottom of the rug, sadly this was heavily damaged and our restoration workshop secured it straight to ...