EAST CAUCASUS, LATE 19TH CENTURY

This large, finely woven Kuba kilim displays an energetic design of staggered rows of large serrated lozenge medallions with lateral arms, on a deep inky-indigo ground that is characteristic of this region. The composition and the form of the medallions derives from the earlier eighteenth century Caucasian floral carpets which in turn were related to the antique 'Dragon' carpets. A similar example with extending hooked arms to each lozenge but with an ivory zig-zag border, perhaps the most recurring in the group, is published by David Black and Clive Loveless, The Undiscovered Kilim, London 1977, pl.33. A similar design with T-shaped arms on a red ground is published Nazan Ölçer, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Kilims, Istanbul, 1989, pp.172-3, pl.63.