Red Lamb Wool Gabbeh Rug
This red lamb wool Gabbeh rug is made in Afghanistan and measures 355 x 271 cm, or about 9.6 square metres. Red and maroon carry most of the field, with stripes of rust, orange, green, blue and tan running across the centre panel. A cream frame set with small round rosettes surrounds the panel, and a border of boxes and medallions completes the rug.
The design up close
Across this red lamb wool Gabbeh rug, the centre panel is made of many thin horizontal stripes that vary in width. Each stripe carries a line of small motifs, such as stars, diamonds, small squares and tiny tree shapes in a maroon stripe near the top. A few stripes are mostly blue or green.
The cream frame carries a row of small round rosettes in red and blue. Outside it, the side borders stack vertical columns of boxes filled with crosses, squares and bars in tan, teal, blue and orange, with red and blue medallion rosettes set at intervals. Along the top and bottom, a row of small squares sits on maroon, and the outer edge is red.
Narrow stripes in many colours make the centre read as warm and textured from a distance, and the detail rewards a closer look.
Where Gabbeh rugs come from
Gabbeh rugs come from a nomadic weaving tradition: a thick, soft pile, open fields of colour and simple motifs, sometimes small figures or animals. The Gabbeh is a rug of the tribes of the Zagros mountains in Iran, including the Lori and Qashqai, who wove thick, simple rugs mainly for their own households. The name is often translated as raw or natural. Weavers in Afghanistan now make Gabbeh rugs in the same spirit, and this red lamb wool Gabbeh rug is made there.
How this red lamb wool Gabbeh rug is made
Afghan rugs are hand knotted on a loom, one knot at a time, and a room-size rug can take a small team of weavers many months. The Gabbeh pile is thick and soft, and this rug is made from lamb wool, which comes from a young sheep’s first shearing. Our Gabbeh rugs are hand knotted in Afghanistan.
Sizing it for your room
At 355 x 271 cm, this red lamb wool Gabbeh rug covers about 9.6 square metres. A three-seat sofa of around 2.2 m leaves about 68 cm of rug showing past each end, so the whole sofa sits on the rug. Under a dining table of about 240 x 100 cm, the rug gives roughly 58 cm at each end and about 86 cm along each side. Cream walls and pale timber suit the red field.
Looking after your rug
Vacuum it on a suction-only setting, or with the beater bar switched off, so the brush does not pull at the knots. Turn it around every six to twelve months so sun and foot traffic wear it evenly. Blot spills with a clean white cloth and cold water rather than rubbing them in. When it needs a full clean, choose a cleaner who washes handmade rugs by hand.
Put a good underlay beneath it. It stops the rug sliding on timber or tiles, adds cushioning and takes some of the wear off the pile. Moths like wool in dark, quiet spots, such as the part of a rug under a sofa, so vacuum those areas often and lift the furniture now and then.
See it before you buy
Visit our showroom at 307 Penshurst St, North Willoughby, open every day from 11 am to 4:30 pm, to see this red lamb wool Gabbeh rug in person. If you would rather judge it in your own room, with your own light and furniture, book an in-home viewing and we will bring a selection to you.
Browse more Gabbeh Rugs, or ask about a custom made rug in your own size and colour. Read more about Gabbeh rugs.
