EAST CAUCASUS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

This soumac carpet is unusual on three accounts. While Kuba soumacs are generally woven with an orange-red ground, the present example has a unconventionally large amount of denim blue within its palette. The design - with a central hooked medallion between rows of hooked güls arranged in three columns - is also difficult to find a comparable example of. Finally, the archaic border design which features stylised dragons alternating with hooked diamonds, is as striking as it is unusual. A triple medallion soumac carpet with a similar border was sold by Rippon Boswell, 24 November 2012, lot 92.