Number 1752
Type Workshop
Material Wool
Style Pictorial
Origin Tabriz
Size 60 x 88
Age 1943-44
Signed by the legendary Grand Master Aalabaf of Tabriz
Inscribed PGC : Persian Gulf Command
The PGC was set up to be the American forward base in the Middle East during the second world war. In Iran specifically, through which the Americans supplied petroleum and heavy weaponry to Soviet Russia. What Cold War? The mother of all October surprises. It’s a unique facet of 20th century military history and it’s immortalized in this rug. It’s also a timely reminder of how close the two countries were until recent times.
As storms of violence herald an engulfing darkness and clouds of hatred rain down death and destruction, it feels as if the end of history is near and that the final chapter, as always, will be set in the Middle East.
But we’ve been here before.
With the same players, the usual villains.
In fact we’ve been here so many hundreds of times across thousands of years. Our lands are where the Tree of Life was planted and where Armageddon is supposed to happen. For now, as the clock counts down to yet another Wild West showdown, the devil holds all the cards in his hand and watches as the dogs of war howl and howl.
Why don’t they give peace a chance?
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