KAZAK REGION, SOUTH CAUCASUS, LATE 19TH CENTURY

This style of gül with its hooked, stepped profile, owes its name to a small-format rug first depicted in a painting by Hans Memling, dated circa 1485 (now in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Inv. no. 284.b), and is considered one of the oldest rug designs. The Memling gül proved popular in Anatolia but also made its way to the Caucasus, where it was found in carpets from numerous villages and provinces, particularly in the Moghan region. A rug displaying an even wider colour palette than the present lot is published by Ulrich Schurmann, Caucasian rugs, Munich, pp.180-81, pl.59.