SOUTH CAUCASUS, 18TH CENTURY

The design of this embroidery is filled with the design vernacular of earlier 17th and 18th century Caucasian embroideries and pile carpets. It is dominated by the large centralised octagon that spans the width of the central field. Above the upper end panel there is the inclusion of a further octagon and part-octagons at each corner, suggesting that the design was intended as an endless repeat. The central octagonal medallion filled with ram's horn motifs pays homage to 15th century carpet design, in particular those seen in large-pattern 'Holbein' carpets. A comparable embroidery, formerly part of the collection of Eugene Chesrow, displays a similar design with horizontal panels above and below a dominant centralised stellar medallion with further part medallions above and below, (Sotheby's New York, 31 January 2014, lot 5). An 18th century embroidery of wider proportions and 2:1:2 formation, in the Bruce P. and Olive W. Baganz Collection, displays similar hooked ram's horn appendages that are positioned on the points of the compass within the central red medallion, (Malin Lonnberg, 'Azerbaijan silk embroidery', HALI, Issue 204, p.32).