Rug with Green Monolith
Rug with Green Monolith
At the 9th International Conference on Oriental Rugs in Milano in 1999, Mustapha Hansali presented his groundbreaking research on the Azilal region. Hansali, the first to study the material culture of the area, divided Azilal rugs into two groups.
First, he identified white ground rugs with designs in natural, undyed brown or black wool, attributing these to the Ait Bougemez and Ait Bou Oulli tribes. Second, he described red ground rugs with geometric patterns, originating from the eastern part of the region and dating back to the early 1980s. He connected these to the Ait Sokhmane and Ait Bouzid tribes.
Starting in 1980, Hansali noted a more frequent use of industrial fibers and fabric remnants, initially for the warps and soon after for the pile. In this early example of the latter type, we see a blue-green monolith against an orange-red background with yellow striations occurring in a random rhythm. Flanking this monolith are a pair of amorphous zig-zag lines, in the same color, resembling an extreme stylization of a zoomorphic motif.