CENTRAL ANATOLIA, 18TH CENTURY

The overall repeat design of the double headed stepped arrow-head in the present rug is more often found as a secondary scatter motif. Despite the rarity of the motif, another rug within the Christopher Alexander collection employs the same motif within a primary repetitive design, (Christopher Alexander, op cit., pp.232-3). Both rugs use the same motif but through the use of colour create a further layer of interpretation. The apparent random selection of colours in the present rug leaves it open as to what might follow. The endless repeat design on the other rug however, has a definite rhythmic structure that is created through the use of diagonal lines of the motif but in just two colours; yellow and blue.

The lower part of this runner was in the Kircheim Collection (Heinrich E. Kircheim, Orient Stars, A Carpet Collection, Stuttgart and London, 1993, no.148, p.220) and was later sold in The Orient Stars Collection, Rippon Boswell, 2 October 1999, lot 62.