Antique Caucasian Rug
Description
Smart late 19th century Caucasian rug, possibly from the Kuba region in Azerbaijan.
The all-over field design on an off-black ground is an extremely complicated pattern which can be read in a variety of ways. One interpretation is seeing it as a grid of three columns of light blue diamonds. The outside columns have a flower-filled rectangle at each junction, with each diamond containing a flower with leaves on a stem, alternately facing inwards and outwards. The central column of diamonds consists of a sequence of diamonds vertically flanking a stepped hexagon and then separated by another flower-filled rectangle. This structure is repeated four times. Another way of reading the field design is as a series of larger medallions with four lobes around a central stepped hexagon.
Scattered throughout the field are individual flower heads and comb motifs as well as a single minimalist human figure in white (see image). This motif, however, could possibly also be read as a Christian symbol, which would place this rug further west, most likely the Karabgh region.
A series of minor borders and reciprocal borders flank the main border on a white ground with its repeat pattern of flower heads and four tendrils emanating from the flower (this design is sometimes called a “crab border”).
The rug is in excellent condition and retains the original sumakh stitching on the kelim ends and the knotting on the fringes
£3,500