LATE 19TH CENTURY

The inner borders of small stepped polychrome lozenges and the ornamented design of the hooked mihrab are most similar to those found on Obruk kilims from central Anatolia. The archaic guls within the main border however are more commonly associated with Yuruk kilims but whose design stems originally from much earlier Anatolian pile rugs that were depicted in the paintings of the Flemish artist Hans Memling, (Yanni Petsopoulos, Kilims, Fribourg, 1979, pp. 68 & 145). A closely comparable example is illustrated in black and white by Petsopoulos, (Op.cit. p.70, fig.76)