Antique Mashad carpet, Eastern Persia (Iran), signed Saber, c. 432 x 289 cm.

Abbas Quli Saber (1911-1977) started working in the Amoghli workshop when still a young man, at a time when Amoghli was the most favoured weaver of the Shah, Reza Shah Pahlavi. When Saber set up his own workshop he continued the taste and traditions of crasftsmanship already established by Amoghli, taking them, in his best carpets, to new levels. According to one report, on his death, just before the Iranian Revolution, he had around 1500 workers working on more than 300 looms. The vast majority of his carpets followed the traditional dark rich Meshed colours. The present example, woven with great finesse, is extremely unusual both in its overall design and, particularly, in its use of a light coloured ground.