NORTH WEST PERSIA, MID 19TH CENTURY

The design of ascending columns of stylised blossoms on the present carpet draws similarities with the earlier Caucasian 'Blossom' carpets produced from the late 16th century through to the 18th century. That group of carpets, formerly thought to have been made in Kuba in the north eastern Caucasus, are now believed to have been produced in Karabagh, on the Persian border. The group as a whole has always been subdivided into a number of known design types some of which contain a variety of details which are inter-related but nevertheless differ considerably in detail. For a detailed summary of the various design types see, M. Franses and E.H.Kirchheim (ed.) Orient Stars, Stuttgart, London, 1993, pp.101-114; Şerare Yetkin, Volume II, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, London, 1978, pp.41-43, and Charles Grant Ellis, Early Caucasian Rugs, Washington D.C., 1976, pp.10-11.

The warm, earthy tones and soft-textured, fine wool are typical of the weavings from the mountainous region near to Lake Urmia in eastern Kurdistan. Through the use of colour, the fan-shaped blossoms of our rug alternate with rows of knotted medallions that create a whirling rotational motion. One can see how this design might lend itself well to a flat woven technique which is the case in a 19th century Daghestan soumac in a Parisian private collection, where the shaded blue ground is arranged with four columns of ascending serrated palmettes (Le tapis d'Orient dans les collection francaises, Un numero special de Hali, supplement, fig.6, p.282). A comparable pile rug to our lot sold Christie's London, 18 October 2016, lot 8. Designs that employ ascending overall floral motifs were used in this region throughout the 18th and 19th centuries (see Jim Burns, Antique Rugs of Kurdistan. A Historical Legacy of Woven Art, London 2002, no.47, pp.156-7).