Few if any Afshar rugs are ever assigned an early date, but few if any Afshar rugs look like this one.  This rug is featured in the article appearing on the website (Outback Afshars), and is fully described there, in terms of structure, etc. 

While this group of rugs has often been relegated to a secondary position within the hierarchy of Afshar rugs, given the coarse structure and somewhat wild patterns, as compared to the finer, more controlled and intricately patterned Afshar rugs from the villages of Fars province.  Afshar rugs are seldom associated with the rural peoples of Persia, but this is undoubtedly one of them

At one point, the pile must have been even longer than what is apparent here, suggesting it may have been used as a sleeping rug. The pattern is ‘alive’, leaping off the surface of the rug featuring very strong visuals that are reminiscent of the best of the non Turkmen Central Asian rugs from a similar period.

The structure of warps consisting of a  coarse hair (goat or horse?) plied with cotton is an unusual feature that seems to be confined to the rugs of this group as I do not recall seeing it used elsewhere, in any other weaving culture.   The ‘lazy lines’ on the back, a feature of what has been considered to be early rugs in other weaving cultures, is quite extraordinary.  The rug is not large which provokes one to wonder why two people were working on it at once, with their weaving patterns merging to form these diagonal ‘lines’ on the reverse side. 

Analgous examples of this type are unknown.  As one may notice in the article I wrote so long ago, other examples do exist and they seem to represent a continuum of the tradition over possibly three generations of weavers, none of the other examples seen either on this website or in the marketplace approach the wild aesthetic depicted here.

The condition is not without some issues, there is some erosion at either end and on the sides, but some original selvedge is visible.  Naturally some wear has occurred, but the rug is in original condition with an extremely vibrant palette.