WEST ANATOLIA, 18TH CENTURY

The cruciform motifs in the broad yellow border of this rug can be seen in other Anatolian rugs that have varying field designs but the same border. There is however a fragmentary eighteenth century rug in the Turk ve Islam Museum in Istanbul where the design has been employed in the field (Kurt Erdmann, Seven Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, London, 1970, p,107, fig.124). The same border design as this lot appears on two earlier, 17th century examples both with slightly different colouring. The first, a "Ghirlandaio" rug sold in the Bernheimer Family Collection, in these Rooms, 14 February, 1996, lot 110, the second published by Herrmann, (Eberhart Herrmann, Seltene Orientteppiche X, Munich, 1988, no.13.). For a fuller discussion on this border design please refer to (W. Brüggemann and H. Böhmer, Teppiche der Bauern und Nomaden in Anatolien, Hannover, 1980, pp.60-70).