KUBA REGION, EAST CAUCASUS, CIRCA 1870

The exact origin of the 'Leshgi' star medallion is unclear although the links over the centuries between Caucasian and Anatolian weaving traditions are well-established, as evidenced by the number of seventeenth and eighteenth century Caucasian rugs which have survived in Turkey, and the sharing of certain design motifs. This same medallion appeared on earlier seventeenth and eighteenth century rugs in the Konya district, (E.Heinrich Kirchheim et al., Orient Stars, a Carpet Collection, London and Stuttgart, 1993, nos.141 and 142, p.216 for example) but remains little changed in a nineteenth century Kuba rug of similar design to the present rug, E. Herrmann, Seltene Orientteppiche, IV, Munich, 1982, pp.110-11, pl.27. The present rug displays a dense mass of varied symbols and motifs: amulets, animals, human figures, ram's horns, stars and rosettes in a widely varied palette.