CIRCA 1800 OR EARLIER

There has been a considerable amount of discussion of this particular rug regarding the origins of its powerful iconography. Following Burns' initial publication of the rug in 1987, Ian Bennett made a particular discussion of it in his review of that book. He suggested that the four pairs of square motifs in the field were based upon the designs of the long rugs woven in the Konya area, where those motifs are also realised in red and blue (HALI 36, 1987, p.32).

This interpretation was called into question by Christine Klose, who instead drew parallels that lay closer to home, in both the silk embroideries and 'dragon' rugs of the Caucasus. Certainly, a rug which she uses to illustrate the article suggests a possible link between the 'dragon' group and this example (Christine Klose, 'The Perepedil Enigma', HALI 55, 1991, p.113). In her discussion, she suggests that on the Burns' rug, a single column of floral motifs have been isolated and magnified to create a new design. An historic photograph of an impressive 'dragon' carpet, upon which the paired white 'dragons' already appear as paired hook motifs, is published Serare Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, London, 1978, pl.25. Klose's theory, therefore, would suggest that the 'Perepedil' design lay more squarely within the Caucasian tradition.

A third interpretation is made by Adil Besim on a rug which, like ours, has a powerful totemic column of hooked medallions on an ivory ground. These hooks - often referred to as 'ram's horns' - he suggests are a visual reference to the Chinese 'cloud bands' which were used extensively on Safavid weaving (Adil Besim, Mythos und Mystik: alte und antike textilkunst, Vienna, 1999, no.11). Looking at 18th century Caucasian carpets, however, these motifs might also be related to the 'dragons' on 17th century Caucasian carpets, which by the following centuries had been simplified into pairs of hooked motifs (see for example Serare Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, London, 1978, pl.25).

Whatever controversy exists over the origins of this design, Klose also traces some of its later development onto rugs which, unlike the present lot, were woven for the commercial market. Though the earliest of these still have an ivory ground, they lack the power of this example. Examples from this later phase include an example from an Austrian private collection published by Klose, op.cit., fig.9. Further examples to come onto the market in more recent years include one sold Rippon Boswell, Mannheim, 26 November 2022, lot 95 which also sold in these Rooms, 25 April 2002, lot 3.