KAZAK REGION, SOUTH CAUCASUS, CIRCA 1870

This is an unusual variant of the Lori Pambak design, which is normally found with a white-ground gul in the centre with a pair of blue or green medallions above and below. On this example the pattern is exactly inverted, with a pair of white medallions flanking a blue medallion. An example with a similar arrangement of medallions as well as a similar white-ground border with repeated kochanak motifs is published by Adil Besim (Mythos und Mystik: Alte und Antike Textilkunst, Vienna, 1999, fig.15). A second unusual feature of our rug is the green inner border, which combines a variety of motifs, including Z-shaped ‘dragons’, flowerheads, and further kochanak motifs. It is similar to the main border of a Lori Pambak rug offered in these Rooms, 16 October 2003, lot 255, which also has the same arrangement of two white and one blue medallion. The combination of the two borders, as well as the white stippling in the red field and blue medallion, suggest that this is an older example: it is reminiscent of a further example from the mid-nineteenth century which was offered in these Rooms, 10 October 2008, lot 249.