Unusual Kazak

Unusual Kazak
243 x 174 cm (8' x 5' 9")
Caucasus, second half 19th century
Condition: very good, full pile, partially corroded dark brown, few small repairs, one sewn up tear, upper end original (not shortened)
Warp: wool, weft: wool, pile: wool

This large weaving has all of the characteristics of a carpet made in a village for home use: it is thick, dense pile and large size give it real weight, and the design has numerous idiosyncrasies that defy easy categorisation into known Caucasian rug typologies.
The most striking feature is the scale and designs of the borders, as it is quite unusual for all three borders to have different designs and all to be of equal size; note the way that the blue and white borders have different renderings of the design on the vertical and horizontal axes.
It is clear that this rug was designed as it was being woven rather than directly copied from a cartoon, shown in the way that the field starts with a different design and size before the large hooked Memling style guls become the main motif.
A particularly nice feature is the way that the secondary field designs that are cut off by the vertical borders are filled with lots of little polychrome squares, almost like an artist colour palette, as well as the very unsual border designs.
This vibrant and dynamic carpet shows how inventive and skilled the village weavers were in the southern Caucasus in the mid 19th century creating artworks full of improvisation and innovation.

Estimate: € 10000 - 15000