This early 20th century Baluch bagface is one of two companion pieces — items 1295A and 1295B — that together formed a complete vintage Baluch storage bag, the khorjin or double bag that was central to the nomadic life of the Baluch tribes of southeastern Persia and western Pakistan. The bagface panel was the decorated front of the bag — the face that was visible when the bag was in use — and was woven with considerably more care and artistry than the utilitarian reverse.
Baluch bag textiles of this early 20th century vintage, woven with vegetable-dyed wool on a wool foundation, are among the most intimate and personally expressive objects in the tribal textile world — small works of art created not for trade but for daily use, and now treasured as collector pieces for exactly that authenticity. Display alongside its companion piece 1295B as a matched pair of tribal wall art. The Baluch tribes — seminomadic peoples living across the vast territories of southeastern Persia, southwestern Afghanistan, and western Pakistan — have produced some of the most quietly beautiful and spiritually resonant tribal rugs in the world. Baluch rugs are distinguished by their deep, brooding palette of dark navy, midnight blue, and rich red, their exceptionally lustrous wool pile, their fine flat-woven kilim ends, and a geometric design vocabulary rooted in ancient symbolic traditions. Though small in scale — most Baluch rugs are prayer rug or scatter size — they are large in artistic and collecting significance.
Dimensions: 1' 6" x 3'
Date of Manufacture: Early 20th Century
Place of Origin: Baluchistan, SE Persia
Material: Wool pile on a wool foundation with vegetable dyes
