PROBABLY BY HAGOP KAPOUDJIAN, CORFU OR PARIS, CIRCA 1920

The knot count measures approximately 7V x 8H knots per cm. sq.

Like the preceding lot in the present sale, this rug displays the same striped red kilim which is frequently misattributed to the hand of Abraham Toussounian (see note to lot 185). Like that rug, Farrow believed that this lot was woven by Hagop Kapoudjian's workshop on commission for Toussounian.

The design is based on the 'Dragon' carpets woven in the Caucasus from the seventeenth century, an example of which is in the Islamic Art Museum in Berlin, published by Sarre and Trenkwald, Alt-Orientalische Teppiche, Vienna, 1926, vol.1, pl.4. Though we have numerous examples of Koum Kapi rugs based on Persian or Ottoman examples, Caucasian-inspired designs occur far more infrequently. The border design has been re-imagined by Hagop, suggesting this to have been woven in the later part of his career.