Persian Monumental Kilim Carpet

Red and black squares, edged in white teeth, marching the full length of a very large room.

This monumental kilim carpet comes from Persia, present day Iran, in the Middle East, and dates to the 20th century. It is wool. Kilims are flat-woven, with no pile, and their crisp geometric designs come from the way colored wefts turn back at the edge of each shape. The field is a checkerboard of deep red and blue-black squares, each framed by ivory sawtooth borders. Inside every square sits a small diamond with arrow-like tips in orange, red or green. Wool fringes finish both ends. It is 11 feet wide and 18 long.

Plenty of squares, and every one of them pulling its weight.