Mid 19th century, 241 x 124 cm, East Anatolia

The field design of large, alternately red- or blue-ground box shapes, each containing a powerful cruciform motif decorated with four arrows, appears to have been especially popular among the Kurds of East Anatolia. The Böhmer Collections includes several examples of this type. The large, cruciform arrow device may have been a kind of tribal gül, although designs of similar appearance also occur in Shahsavan bag faces from Azerbaijan. The stepped polygons decorated with four hooks seen in the border – a golden yellow in this piece – are a distinctive feature of this rug group. In this impressive example, the three boxes diminish in size from bottom to top. As in the example published by Neugebauer/Orendi as early as 1909, they are clearly separated by horizontal borders. – Repiled lower finish and upper right corner, otherwise in good condition, with a high pile and the original selvedges.

NEUGEBAUER, RUDOLF & ORENDI, JULIUS, Orientalische Teppichkunde. Leipzig 1909, pl. VI *** YOHE, RALPH S. & JONES, H., Turkish Rugs. Washington, D. C. 1968, no. 65 *** BRÜGGEMANN, WERNER & BÖHMER, HARALD, Teppiche der Bauern und Nomaden in Anatolien. Hanover 1980, nos. 97 and 98 *** RIPPON BOSWELL, A 66, 20 May 2006, lot 34