Saffron Country, in Blue
Blue ground, which is unusual there.
A red diamond with a cream frame,
the bands tight as a drawn thread.
Fine work, from the fine-work people.
Taznakht sits in the Anti-Atlas, south of Ouarzazate on the slopes of Jebel Siroua, in saffron country, and the Ait Ouaouzguite who weave there are the finest technicians in Morocco: tight, even, exact. They usually work in saffron yellows and ochres. This one, from the 1970s, is in blue, a deep lake blue filling the whole ground, with a single red diamond framed in cream at the centre and the narrow patterned bands at either end that are the Taznakht signature. It is small, precise and completely sure of itself.
Fifty years have given the blue a slight bloom, like slate after rain, and left the red bright. The pile is low and the rug is light enough to hang. It is made for a bedroom, a study, a hallway, a wall, anywhere a single clear object is wanted.
Handwoven rugs grow in beauty, memory, and value with every passing year.