SOUTH CAUCASUS, CIRCA 1800

Details

A DRAGON SOUMAC CARPET
SOUTH CAUCASUS, CIRCA 1800
The rust-red field scattered with animal and human motifs together with flowerheads around a column of hooked polychrome panels with angular vine and minor motifs flanked by serrated and hooked similar panels, in a chocolate-brown border of angular panels and hooked bars between rosette and barber-pole stripes, corrosive brown, localised areas of wear
9ft.10in. x 6ft.10in. (299cm. x 208cm.)

Provenance

The James D. Burns Collection, Christie's, London, 18 October 2001, lot 245

Literature

Burns, James D.: The Caucasus, Traditions in Weaving, Seattle, 1984, no.51.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

In his caption to the entry for this soumac, Burns draws attention to the similarity of this piece to the seminal example of the group, that formerly in the Wher collection dated 1223 (1806-7 AD). The group of dragon soumacs is discussed at some length by Sean Gough ("Dragon Soumacs", Hali vol.6, no.3, pp.246-253) who illustrates the Wher Collection example as pl.5, p.249. One feature which stands out on the present carpet is the curvilinear aspect of the drawing. This renders the elements closer than is usually found to the earlier pile-woven prototypes. Also interesting are the two "dragons" inverted at the top of the carpet. Unlike most examples of the group, the animals are discernable here, with particularly clear faces. Compared to the myriad small animals and human figures scattered up the sides of the field they are however upside-down, and it may be more chance than anything else that has enabled them to appear in recognisable form here.

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