A saddlebag, Iran, 19th century

WARP: white wool; Z2S; 26 threads per inch (100 per dm).

WEFT: light pink cotton; Z-spun, unplied; 3 threads per shoots; 1 shoot after each row of soumak; 24 shoots per inch (100 per dm). Pattern weft: wool and cotton; Z2S; 10 colours: dark red, red, yellow, dark green, green, dark blue, blue, light brown, white (cotton); reversed soumak over two threads and back behind four threads.

SIDE FINISH: 2 cords oversewn with dark red wool

END FINISH: Both ends missing; soumak bands woven in a chevron pattern (badly worn), perhaps originally extended with slits for fastening but now turned under and stitched in place.

DESIGN: Bag face field: a lattice of multi-coloured diamonds each containing hooked diamonds.
Border: bracketed diamonds, each containing an S-form.
Bag back: weft-faced plain weave with paired warp threads and dark red wool weft. The dividing section (5" or 13 cm deep) has bands of weft-twining, soumak and patterning. There are nine main bands in yellow, red, dark red, white, blue and green. Ten loops of dark blue wool plaited during the weaving of 2 bands of four passes of 4 threads, Z-twisted, over groups of 4 warp threads, would have provided loop fastening for the two bags.
NB: is it true that reversed soumak is built-up in blocks and is not woven selvedge to selvedge?

Purchased from Messrs. K. M. Jamgotchian & Co., 17 Devonshire Street, Bishopsgate, London.

Bags are important household articles for all nomadic people. They are used to transport possessions on pack animals when the community travels and are used for storage and decoration, and as something comfortable to lean against, when the community settles for a while and erects tents. The two sides of a bag, back and front, are called 'faces' and the one at the front is often decorated with knotted pile or with a woven design.
A pair of saddle bags like this would be woven as one long length in this order: a decorative panel, a long plain panel to form the back and then a second decorative panel. The decorative panels would be folded to the front and sewn along the sides to form two bags. Blue cords have been used to fasten and secure these bags so that they could be slung over the back of a pack animal.

T.306&A-1910