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Lot Essay
This unusual village rug contains a number of features which makes it most probable that it has been created by Kurdish weavers.
Located between the Ottoman Empire (centered on today's Turkey) and Persia (now Iran) the Kurds became very productive in weaving in the last half of the eighteenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth century while being under constant influence of different nations (James D. Burns, Antique Rugs of Kurdistan, 2002, p.13). Some of the frequently used motifs in Kurdish rugs are the octagonal abyss medallion (as a symbol of the Kurdish mythology), little amulets, as well as the reciprocal trefoil border (Burns, op.cit., pp. 27-29). The Three Abyss Medallion runner from circa 1800 as well as the Large Medallion carpet (second half seventeenth century) both illustrated in Burns (op.cit., pp.92-93, pl.23; pp.184-85, pl.56) have very similar medallions as our rug. The eighteenth century Hakkari long carpet (op.cit., p.190-191, pl.58) shares the colours and the spacing of the main motifs surrounded by similar minor forms as well as the reciprocal trefoil border. In terms of technique the present rug has red double-wefts as well as the warps of natural wool which are also consistent with a Kurdish attribution.
Located between the Ottoman Empire (centered on today's Turkey) and Persia (now Iran) the Kurds became very productive in weaving in the last half of the eighteenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth century while being under constant influence of different nations (James D. Burns, Antique Rugs of Kurdistan, 2002, p.13). Some of the frequently used motifs in Kurdish rugs are the octagonal abyss medallion (as a symbol of the Kurdish mythology), little amulets, as well as the reciprocal trefoil border (Burns, op.cit., pp. 27-29). The Three Abyss Medallion runner from circa 1800 as well as the Large Medallion carpet (second half seventeenth century) both illustrated in Burns (op.cit., pp.92-93, pl.23; pp.184-85, pl.56) have very similar medallions as our rug. The eighteenth century Hakkari long carpet (op.cit., p.190-191, pl.58) shares the colours and the spacing of the main motifs surrounded by similar minor forms as well as the reciprocal trefoil border. In terms of technique the present rug has red double-wefts as well as the warps of natural wool which are also consistent with a Kurdish attribution.