3 x 4 Antique Persian Kashan Pictorial Rug 77017

77017 Antique Persian Kashan Pictorial Rug, 02'11 x 03'11. 

Woven with spiritual longing and lyrical reverence, this antique Persian Kashan pictorial rug captures a moment of divine contemplation frozen in wool—a meditation rendered with the precision of a calligrapher and the soul of a mystic. At the heart of the composition sits a dervish, serene and composed, his gaze distant, his spirit seemingly adrift in the ether between earth and the infinite. Clad in a patterned robe of blue and brown, he holds his staff like a tether to the physical world, while beside him rests the symbolic kashkul, the beggar’s bowl, emptied of worldly desire and filled only with the blessings of detachment.

He sits at the banks of an ethereal lake, its waters teeming with ducks and fish, symbols of sustenance and the gentle hum of natural life. These creatures do not fear him—they gather in still harmony, mirroring the spiritual quiet that emanates from his being. Each feather and fin is rendered in meticulous detail, emphasizing the dervish's role as both witness and part of the divine order. This aquatic serenity softens the scene, conjuring the Sufi notion that the path to Allah flows not through conquest, but through surrender to beauty, simplicity, and the sacred rhythm of all living things.

Encircling the composition is a finely wrought cartouche border, inscribed with Persian poetry from Abbas Foroughi Bastami, one of the great lyrical voices of 19th-century Iran. His verses form a halo around the central figure, elevating the scene beyond a literal portrait and into the realm of allegory. The poetic script, carefully knotted into the rug’s weave, whispers timeless truths—meditations on divine love, renunciation, and the fleeting nature of earthly illusion. Bastami’s words do not merely adorn the rug; they complete it, as the dervish’s silence finds voice in his verse.

The stylistic clarity of the Kashan rug reveals the artistic hand of Kashan’s master weavers, known for their sensitivity to line, color, and cultural storytelling. Soft hues of ivory, rose, cobalt, and celadon flow in harmonic balance, underscoring the rug’s contemplative mood. The symmetry of design, paired with delicate asymmetries in detail, reflects the dualities the dervish himself embodies: presence and absence, stillness and movement, the inner life and the external world. Though modest in scale, the rug holds a monumentality of spirit—a portable shrine to introspection and devotion.

In its entirety, this antique Kashan rug is not merely a pictorial textile; it is a metaphysical map, charting the interior journey of the dervish and the poetic landscape of Sufi mysticism. Every thread hums with reverence. Every motif breathes a parable. A piece like this does not simply decorate a space—it blesses it. To live with this rug is to live with a companion in stillness, a silent guide toward the luminous quiet that lies beyond form, where the heart, like the dervish by the water, finds peace in the presence of the eternal.

Here is a poetic English translation of the four-line do-bayti inscription from the rug:

If you place but one foot upon the needle’s point
To taste the life of poverty, you gift yourself great fortune.
You may wear the sandals of a wealthy goldsmith,
But in the dervish’s heart, there dwells true sovereignty.

The verse humbly reflects the Sufi worldview: that true richness lies not in possessions, but in spiritual depth. Even a fleeting encounter with the path of the dervish, no matter how sharp or uncomfortable (like standing on a needle), can lead one to greater fortune than material wealth ever could. Gold and grandeur may adorn the body, but it is the content heart of the dervish where true majesty resides.

• Poetry from Abbas Foroughi Bastami.
• Abrash.
• Hand-knotted wool.
• Made in Iran.
• Measures: 02'11 x 03'11.
• Date: 1920's. Early 20th Century.