Vintage Beni Mguild Berber Rug
The Beni Mguild tribe is located in the mountainous region of the Moroccan Middle Atlas. Together with the Beni Ouarain, they represent the earliest Berber presence in that region as well the tribe with the longest documented legacy with the past.
The second volume of Prosper Ricard ‘Corpus de Tapis Marocains’, written as a research conducted during the French Protectorate and published in 1926, is entirely dedicated to the carpets of the Middle Atlas. Ricard focuses in extreme detail on the weavings of the Beni Mguild, differentiating between the ivory ones with lozenge patterns (Ichdif) and the richly colored carpets on an all-over diamond grid substrate (Tazerbit).
The present example is on a warm red background, woven in such a way as to partially cover the pattern in blue and light yellow, which can clearly be seen from the back (see the image detail). This ‘cancelled’ pattern makes it quite desirable among Berber carpet collectors.
Characteristic of Beni Mguild carpets is the dense quality of the weaving, imparting a unique sturdy texture. The small size of this rug is quite rare as most of their weavings follow the typical Berber long and narrow format.