WEST ANATOLIA, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Triple-arch prayer rugs as the present and the following lot 228 form a coherent group among Kula prayer rugs. In both lots floral and linear serrated bands replace the original column on either side, increasingly filling the side panels as the Kula rugs develop with time. In addition to the cross panel at the top of the field some examples, as here, have a second panel beneath the prayer niche. The flowers in the border which are woven upside-down are a frequent feature (Prayer Rugs, exhibition catalogue, Washington D.C., 1974, p.64). A similar early rug with a blue prayer niche but three columns and the same border design from the Black Church in Brasov is illustrated by Emil Schmutzler, Altorientalische Teppiche in Siebenbürgen, Leipzig, 1933, pl.35.