EAST CAUCASUS, CIRCA 1870

The origin of the eight-pointed star medallions that expertly punctuate the length of our runner is commonly misappropriated to the Lesghi tribe of the north eastern Caucasus, but are displayed on weavings from across the region. A comparable Shirvan example of similar arrangement was once owned by the American industrialist, Henry Ford III, and is now in the Orient Stars collection, (E. Heinrich Kirchheim et al., Orient Stars: A Carpet Collection, London, 1993, p.30, p.60). The beautiful shades of green in our runner are of particular merit, alongside the juxtaposed navy and ivory which are striking. The white cotton wavy wefting clearly places our runner within the Kuba region to the east of the Caucasus. A slightly earlier rug of the same attribution and very close arrangement, but with a more muted palette, is published by Ian Bennett and Aziz Bassoul (Rugs of the Caucasus from three private Lebanese collections, Beirut, 2003, no.90, p.242).