EARLY TO MID 19TH CENTURY

Russian carpets of the late 18th and 19th centuries typically employ a brown-black ground filled with floral motifs such as the present lot. The design of this example is clearly inspired by the French style so popular with the Russian nobility. Here in this example, however, the floral forms in the central field are more delicately drawn than the robust French antecedents. The floral cartouches in the border are also an reinterpretation of a common French motif.

Another Ukranian carpet of similar vintage and weave sold at Sotheby's New York, 10 April 2002, lot 137. For a comparable border with similarly drawn cartouches please see Sotheby's New York, 10 April 1991, lot 127.

For a further discussion of the origin of Ukranian and Bessarabian carpets, please the note accompanying lot 50.