SOUTH CAUCASUS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The field design of flowering shrubs is very much part of the Kurdish weaving vocabulary and the richly saturated colours are described by Alberto Levi as "an indication of the well known competence of Kurds in the art of dyeing", (Alberto Levi, 'Renewal and Innovation, Iconographic Influences on Kurdish Carpet Design', Hali, 70, August/September, 1993, p.87). The floral shrub design originally stems from the 'vase' carpets of South East Persia which travelled during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to North West Persia. One such North West Persian, 18th century example was sold in The Bernheimer Family Collection, Christie's London, 14 February 1996, lot 59, and another more naively drawn example with a similar border to the Bernheimer but more closely drawn field design to the present lot, is illustrated by James D. Burns; Antique Rugs of Kurdistan, London, 2002, plate 52, pp.166-7.