Saddle Rug
Ait Tamassine, Ait Ouaouzguite (Berber) peoples
Siroua Mountains
1930s
Goat hair, wool, silk
180 x 133 cm (78 x 59 in.)
Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Richard C. Vonnegut Endowment Fund in Memory of Louise A. Vonnegut Peirce
1998.82

For the Ait Ouaouzguite a rug was a luxury. A single yard of knotted pile rug required the wool from approximately nine sheep. However, flatweave required less wool, so weavers often combined the knotted pile and flatweave techniques, as is evident in this saddle rug.

The design combines colorful bands of diamond and triangle patterns. The weaver created a three-dimensional effect in the central diamond pattern band by manipulating the colored yarn to create shading.