18TH CENTURY

This rug demonstrates how the design of the Coupled-Column prayer rug of the 17th century continued to develop in the 18th century. The border of the present rug is still closely related to the early 17th century examples, such as the Bernheimer Coupled-Column Prayer Rug, sold in these Rooms, 8 April 2014, lot 13. However, the field design has evolved considerably. Both that rug and ours have lost the coupled columns which have been replaced with vertical bands of flowering vine that link the upper and lower panels. A very similar rug to the present lot is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (M.S.Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 1973, no.137, pp.245-6). An even closer example to the present lot with the same added flowers lining each red panel is illustrated in Eberhart Herrmann, Von Konya Bis Kokand, Seltene Orientteppiche, III, Munich, 1980, no.3, p.39.