Kochi rugs

Can anyone give me any information about these? I'm told they are around 100 years old and produced by Kochi nomads in Afghanistan. First is the back and the second is the front.

 

Good quality pictures. You should show a close up of the binding on the edge and also, is that a label? Closeup of that, too.

 

the one with, what I think, is mecca

 

View attachment 31654

 

The mecca one full size. The tag is just masking tape with a number on it.

 

Bev was wondering about the white tags in the corners. Me too. Close-ups please?

 

Neither one of these look particularly old to me - like 10-20 years at the most, maybe even brand new. You didn't really mean to imply that these are 100 years old, did you?

The only references to "Kochi" rug weaving that I could find (after extensive Googling "antique Afghan rugs" and related searches) say that Kochi rugs are being made in Pakistan by refugees from Afghanistan. One article talked about the weavers' use of "jewel-tone colors." From what I could tell Afghanistan did not open up rug exporting until after WWII.

When you say "mecca" for that one rug, you mean "prayer rug" right? That's certainly what it looks like, although you don't give size or length.

 

The tags are just some numbers written on masking tape used by the vendor to store the carpets. Some back ground, I picked up the carpets personally in harat Afghanistan which is close to the kochi homeland. What makes you doubt the age?

 

Well, that does seem to be the right place to get a rug made by the nomadic people. And in looking up the location, I found that the name is often spelled Kuchi. Using that spelling eliminated the Pakistani and Indian made rugs with the Kochi spelling. It still did not send me to any sites that document Kuchi as an Afghan rug category - but that could simply be an indication that as a nomadic, herding people, they did not produce rugs for sale or export, but primarily for their own use.

As for why I don't think they're 100 years old, I would certainly expect to see at least some wear on them if they were that old - particularly the prayer rug, being used 5 times a day for 100 years in the kind of conditions the nomads live in.

Now, I did find 1 rug previously listed on Etsy, that was being claimed as "vintage 1960's" Kuchi that looked to be in pretty good condition.

Don't get me wrong - they are beautiful rugs. And having gotten them where you did is a wonderful thing. But since you asked for information - and little was forthcoming from my research - I offered my thoughts on what I could see and find. I wish I could have found more to tell you.

Did you buy them for yourself or to sell?