PROBABLY KARABAGH, CIRCA 1800

The design of this carpet corresponds with the final phase of the evolution of the Caucasian Dragon carpet as outlined by Charles Grant Ellis (Early Caucasian Rugs, Washington D.C., 1975). In this group the lattice is relaxed, the design breaks up into abstract palmettes and the dragons are reduced to serpentine lines. In the present example the lattice disperses in the top half of the carpet as the weaver loosened the design increasingly as the carpet progressed. The palmettes appear to float and small animals and figures populate the field. The design relates closely to two examples in Istanbul illustrated in Serare Yetkin (Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, London, 1978, pl.21 - an incomplete example in the Turk ve Islam Eserleri Museum, Inv.no.97 - and pl.151).