SOUTH EAST CAUCASUS, MID 19TH CENTURY

The design of bold, horned, medallions ultimately derives from the 'Dragon' pile carpets (see lot 169 in present sale) and the silk embroideries that were woven in the Caucasus from the late 16th to the 18th century. The present lot displays the wonderfully archaic forms of the design that belongs to a group of early Lenkoran rugs from the Talish region in the southern Caucasus, dated to the late 18th or early 19th century. There is a relatively small number of examples within the group which bear just two medallions, see Martin Volkmann, Alte Orientteppiche, Munich 1985, pl.68, pp.168-169 and Christie's London, 21 April 2015, lot 32. Other related three-medallion examples are illustrated in Eberhart Herrmann, Seltene Orientteppiche X, Munich 1988, pp.74-75; Ulrich Schürmann, Caucasian Rugs, Cologne 1964, pl.57, pp.174-75 and James D. Burns, The Caucasus, Traditions in Weaving, Seattle 1987, p.13. The present rug was likely woven in the mid 19th century and while it displays two inverted horned medallions, the more common alternate rectangular medallion has been replaced with an eight-pointed star, and the reciprocal trefoil border of the earlier group is replaced by a series of polychrome flowerheads, similar to those found on Talish rugs of the south east Caucasus. The design continued to be woven into the 20th century and can be seen on a green-ground rug with two medallions illustrated by Ian Bennett, Rugs of the Caucasus, Lebanon, 2003, pp.156-7, pl.15.