Karabagh
591 x 185 cm (19' 5" x 6' 1")
Caucasus, dated 1257 (1841)
Condition: good for its age, low pile in places, upper end partially minimally restored, scattered small repairs, signs of use on the sides and ends
Compare: "Oriental Rugs from Atlantic Collections," Murray Eiland Jr. & Dennis R. Dodds, 1996, plate 92
Warp: wool, weft: wool, pile: wool

A counterpart to this wonderful piece is housed at the Glencairn Museum, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, USA, and was on display in the "Highstyle to Homestyle" exhibition held in conjunction with the 8th ICOC (see above and Hali 159,
page 88). The field design of both carpets, consisting of palmettes and flowers, is derived from the Harshang design and, unusually, set within a diamond grid. This could well have been inspired by Mughal carpets.
In addition to the mainly vertically oriented palmettes, the few that are only slightly horizontal reveal the connection. The two palmettes in the lower row next to the yellow palmette are exemplary of this.
Here below, as with the Glencairn carpet, the weaver has woven numerous small fill motifs into the midnight-blue field.
The border is very uniquely designed. The wavy tendril connecting the flowers is angular in form, and the leaves appear almost Kufic in style. The round, blue-based flowers in particular are very unusual, and weaving them so round requires great skill.
The Glencairn carpet is also dated in a very similarly designed white form, specifically to 1834.
Another, very closely related piece is dated 1837 and may have come from the same workshop. It was sold on April 1, 2021, as Lot 116 at Christie's for 10,625 pounds.