LATE 18TH CENTURY

Alongside the main group of Caucasian dragon carpets, an early example of which is included in the Alexander Collection section of this sale, lot 222, is a group of carpets of similar design but different structure. This was discussed by Marino Dall'Oglio using a white ground carpet in the Wher Collection as a starting point. This group is typified by thinner yarns, usually a cotton or silk foundation, and a lack of weft cables, resulting in a much softer more pliable weaving. The best of the group, on a black ground, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was formerly in the McMullan Collection (McMullan, Joseph V.: Islamic Carpets, New York, 1965, no.39, p.160-161). The drawing on that carpet contains all the elements seen in the dragon carpets such as the Alexander piece, indicating an early date. It is therefore thought that this small group (dall'Oglio lists six in all, of which the present example is one) was made contemporaneously with the main group, but in a different centre, probably further north-east in the Caucasus, possibly in the Shirvan region.