PROBABLY SPAIN OR ITALY, 18TH CENTURY

In its previous publication this rug was listed as "origin unknown". It does not easily fit into any known category but there are a few features which we can draw on to help us attribute it. The drawing of the spandrels immediately suggests Ottoman Turkish rugs of the seventeenth century. But it is not so much the rugs of that period as the textiles which provide the source, not only for closer drawing, but also for the limited colour range (Donald King, Imperial Ottoman Textiles, exhibition catalogue, Colnaghi, London, n.d., esp. no.22, pp.42-3). The warps are S-spun indicating that the rug is of Western manufacture. While its technique differs from the majority of known rugs from Southern Spain and Italy, the limited palette is a feature of rugs from both origins. It seems probable that this is a village production, after an Ottoman prototype.