CENTRAL ANATOLIA, 19TH CENTURY

The playful, kaleidoscopic palette of the present rug is an excellent example of the bold weaving of Konya. The border design is particularly unusual and only a handful of other prayer rugs with a comparable border are known, including a Mudjur prayer rug sold in these Rooms, 13 April 2000, lot 189 and another published in Antike anatolische Teppiche Aus Osterreichischem Besitz, Vienna, 1983, p.120, no.35. In the entry for that rug, the border is deciphered through the central white line which represents undulating vine amidst striking stylised polychrome leaves, however, it also bears close resemblance to the border of a small pattern 'Holbein' rug in the Textile museum, Washington (Gyula Vegh and Karoly Layer, Turkish Rugs in Transylvania, Wales, 1977, no.1).