KUBA REGION, 18TH CENTURY

This 18th century runner has a powerful and archaic design that shares many of the features that distinguish the early 17th century Karapinar carpets of central Anatolia. That group is typified by their bold use of classical Ottoman motifs, such as the stylised tulip flowers accompanied by a strong use of colour, features which were shared with those of kilims of the same period. The group was defined by May Beattie in 1976 tracing it back from nineteenth century rugs to the earlier forebears such as the example sold from the Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets in these Rooms 14 February 1996, lot 130 (May Beattie, “Some Rugs of the Konya Region”, Oriental Art, Vol. XXIII, No 1, 1976).

The principle design of the present rug is formed of a sea-green field centred by an ascending column of ivory squared medallions, each framed with inverted barbed motifs. The arrangement of a column of medallions is typical of early central Anatolian runners where serrated lozenges are frequently used, as seen on a long rust-orange ground example in the Al Sabah collection, Kuwait National Museum, while a shorter example of the same colouring sold as part of the Christopher Alexander collection, Christie’s London, 15 October 1998, lot 209. The narrow golden yellow frame in the field indented by intermittent narrow pointed arrowheads, are perhaps the over simplified forms of what once were Ottoman tulips, which appear on numerous carpets of the period including a central Anatolian runner sold as part of The Sailer Collection, Sotheby’s New York, 1 October 1988, lot 23.

The border design of linked scrolling ‘S’ motifs with barbed middles, is found in earlier central Anatolian carpets, including a fragment formerly in the Wher Collection, Lugano, which has angular barbed vine that appears almost insect-like in its movement, but does not terminate with split-palmettes (‘Karapinar Rugs from Central Anatolia’, Penny Oakley, HALI, Issue 166, p.50, fig.28). The Caucasian weavers adopted this style of border, variants of which can be seen both in the early ‘Dragon’ carpets such as the Cassirer ‘Dragon’ carpet in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Lugano, and the McIlhenny ‘Lozenge and Tree’ carpet in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, although the scrolling S-motifs are broader and less barbed (Serare Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, Vol II, London, 1978, p.19, fig.134 and p.49, fig.172).

While the design of the present lot is clearly influenced by neighbouring Anatolian carpets, the structure is quite different and is woven on a white cotton wavy weft and natural wool warp. The handle is supple with a fine weave and is more closely associated with the production found in the Kuba region of the east Caucasus. A comparable carpet in terms of its structure, palette and handle is the eighteenth century Caucasian triple-star medallion long rug from the Peter Lehmann-Barenklau Collection which sold in these Rooms, 19 April 2016, lot 20. The structure of both carpets is finely woven and each contains a series of short undulating crease-lines that just begin to appear on the surface. In addition, the Lehmann-Barenklau carpet contains the same sea-green colour within its medallion as the field of the present carpet.

Purchased in Germany in the early 1930’s and passed down by descent, this rug appears to be unpublished and has no direct comparable.