KAZAK REGION, SOUTH CAUCASUS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The arrestingly bold design of this rug has a particularly archaic form which, together with its bright but warm colour and relaxed handle, places it distinctly amongst the earliest group of Borjalu rugs. The thin handle of the structure is particularly supple and is again synonymous with an early date of production. A similar palette that includes a sagey grey-green, soft red and aubergine, can be seen on an example sold at Grogan's, Boston, 22 April 2006, lot 110 for a near record price. Both rugs have reciprocal polychrome triangle guard stripes which is considered to be a feature of early Kazaks (see HALI, Vol 3, No.1, p.77, fig.9)

The central rectangular panel on the present rug is filled with two concentric hooked yellow, green and ivory hexagons separated by two small octagonal-filled boxes to each side. It is the breadth of the border however, with the relatively loose interpretation of the zig-zag hooked stripes, truncated at one end to allow for an openly spaced end panel filled with hooked triangles, that dominates the design. The ivory hooked bars are so broad in the end panel that it now appears to have an ivory ground upon which three separate alternate facing hooked bi-tonal pyramids rest. While the design is immediately recognisable, the archaic treatment in this particular rug plays further with the space and perhaps eludes to the outline of an elibelinde figure of motherhood in its overall design. However one wishes to interpret the design, this strikingly beautiful rug, which has remained in the same private collection for nearly forty years, is a rare example.