When this rug was first seen by me many many years ago it had a ragged outer blue covered felt border that showed signs of having been used as an 'above-saddle' carpet. However, a close inspection of the carpet as it appears today - the felt border having been removed somewhere in the interim - does not show the typical wear associated with having been regularly used as an 'above- saddle' carpet, or masho. So was it a seating carpet used as at times as saddle carpet, or a saddle carpet used more often as seating carpet? Whatever it was, it is old and rural or village work, and the overall design can be see to have 'gotten away' from the weaver and is off-centered and 'bunched-up' more at one end. The roundel at the center encloses a mandala-like setting with a sauwastika (reversed swastika) at the very center and the blue field has an archaic rendition of the so-called 'frog footprints' scattered about.  The main outer border is adorned with flowers at the cardinal points, while the inner border encompassing pearls is of un-dyed brown wool. All natural dyes, size 0.80m x 0.52m (30.5" x 20.5") and made in the latter half of the 1800's. This has been in a private collection since the early 1970's and is the first time on the market since then. a collectible piece.