拍品專文
Structure:
Warp: natural wool, 2 shoots S plied, alternate warps slightly depressed
Weft: 2-5 strands red wool Z plied
Symmetrical knot
9 colours: dark brown, brick-red, sandy-yellow, buff, aubergine, pale aubergine, royal-blue, light blue and ivory
ends: not original
sides: replaced cords, wefts returning over outermost warp
A Caucasian dragon carpet with classic 'single-loom width' proportions, and a field that combines most of the classic elements of the known design. Most of the single width examples do not alternate the dragon and phoenix combat groups that are seen in the central lozenge compartments here with the large dragons. By far the largest proportion of these rugs have a red ground, a number of other have blue. This belongs to a smaller group with dark brown grounds that were produced from the earliest period of production (V & A inv.no.420-1906, for example).
The most remarkable feature of this carpet is undoubtedly the main border. Not only is the ground colour extraordinary, but the design is apparently unparalelled. The closest similarities can be seen in a single width dragon carpet in the Vakiflar Museum, Istanbul which has alternating serrated panels and smaller lozenge flowerheads (Yetkin, vol.1, pl.7), but this is still some way from the present example. Ours may however be a later example of this design, including as a motif the rosette that becomes a favourite minor motif in a number of 19th century Caucasian carpets. Even the minor border, while a known early Caucasian type, is not frequently found, and then apparently appearing only on carpets with different main field designs (Yetkin, op.cit. pl.58). A further remarkable feature is that, while the warp is S plied, as one would expect, the weft is Z plied, a variant not noted by Ellis in his technical discussion of early Caucasian rugs.
Both the main border and the minor borders can however be paralelled in carpets from Eastern Anatolia. In the Vakiflar Museum, Istanbul, a rug with a red ground and central medallion dated to the seventeenth century, while using different colours, has an almost identical border (Balpinar and Hirsch, pl.57). The previous two entries in the same catalogue, illustrating 16/17th century rugs, both show the minor border. The first of these also has a very similar combination of colours to that seen here. Therefore an Eastern Anatolian provenance for this carpet seems more probable.
The overall design and structure of the rugs however leave no doubt that this carpet can be placed with the majority of the group. Most authorities place these rugs in the Karabagh region of the Caucasus (for a discussion of the various theories of origin, see HALI, vol.3, no.2). Dating of the group has also involved controversy but again the majority opinion is that, while a few may have been made earlier, most were woven at various stages in the 18th century.
Ellis, C.G.: Early Caucasian Rugs, Textile Museum, Washington D.C., 1975
Franses, M. and Pinner, R., Caucasian Carpets in the Victoria and Albert Museum, in HALI, vol.3, no.2, 1980, pp.96-8.
Yetkin, S.: Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, London 1978
Warp: natural wool, 2 shoots S plied, alternate warps slightly depressed
Weft: 2-5 strands red wool Z plied
Symmetrical knot
9 colours: dark brown, brick-red, sandy-yellow, buff, aubergine, pale aubergine, royal-blue, light blue and ivory
ends: not original
sides: replaced cords, wefts returning over outermost warp
A Caucasian dragon carpet with classic 'single-loom width' proportions, and a field that combines most of the classic elements of the known design. Most of the single width examples do not alternate the dragon and phoenix combat groups that are seen in the central lozenge compartments here with the large dragons. By far the largest proportion of these rugs have a red ground, a number of other have blue. This belongs to a smaller group with dark brown grounds that were produced from the earliest period of production (V & A inv.no.420-1906, for example).
The most remarkable feature of this carpet is undoubtedly the main border. Not only is the ground colour extraordinary, but the design is apparently unparalelled. The closest similarities can be seen in a single width dragon carpet in the Vakiflar Museum, Istanbul which has alternating serrated panels and smaller lozenge flowerheads (Yetkin, vol.1, pl.7), but this is still some way from the present example. Ours may however be a later example of this design, including as a motif the rosette that becomes a favourite minor motif in a number of 19th century Caucasian carpets. Even the minor border, while a known early Caucasian type, is not frequently found, and then apparently appearing only on carpets with different main field designs (Yetkin, op.cit. pl.58). A further remarkable feature is that, while the warp is S plied, as one would expect, the weft is Z plied, a variant not noted by Ellis in his technical discussion of early Caucasian rugs.
Both the main border and the minor borders can however be paralelled in carpets from Eastern Anatolia. In the Vakiflar Museum, Istanbul, a rug with a red ground and central medallion dated to the seventeenth century, while using different colours, has an almost identical border (Balpinar and Hirsch, pl.57). The previous two entries in the same catalogue, illustrating 16/17th century rugs, both show the minor border. The first of these also has a very similar combination of colours to that seen here. Therefore an Eastern Anatolian provenance for this carpet seems more probable.
The overall design and structure of the rugs however leave no doubt that this carpet can be placed with the majority of the group. Most authorities place these rugs in the Karabagh region of the Caucasus (for a discussion of the various theories of origin, see HALI, vol.3, no.2). Dating of the group has also involved controversy but again the majority opinion is that, while a few may have been made earlier, most were woven at various stages in the 18th century.
Ellis, C.G.: Early Caucasian Rugs, Textile Museum, Washington D.C., 1975
Franses, M. and Pinner, R., Caucasian Carpets in the Victoria and Albert Museum, in HALI, vol.3, no.2, 1980, pp.96-8.
Yetkin, S.: Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, London 1978