NORTH EAST CAUCASUS, CIRCA 1880

The north east Caucasian village of Karagashli lies on the Caspian coast between Kuba and Baku, and its rug designs were influenced by its neighbours. The most common design incorporated combinations of lozenges in one or two columns. Another, as seen in the present lot, includes one or more serrated lozenges with red flame pendants, or two or more such pendants as a principal pattern. Border designs are almost invariably the serrated leaf and calyx of the present piece, the so-called ‘eagle’s beak’ motif or the ‘flowerheads and triangles' pattern.