Red ground Talish rug with cypresses and hooked motifs
Southeast Caucasus
circa 1830
237 x 102 cm (7’9” x 3’4”)
Alg 1022
symmetrically knotted wool pile on a wool foundation

An extraordinary Talish rug distinguished by a central row of five stylised cypresses from which sprout three arms with hooked appendages, within a highly stylised cloudband form with split-leaf ends. While the origin of this motif is rather obscure, it most probably derives from the iconography of the so-called transitional Caucasian carpets of the 17th-18th centuries. The fineness of weave, silky wool, minor border motifs and exquisite choice of colours allows us to place this rug to the first half of the nineteenth century, representing in every respect the pinnacle of Caucasian weaving.

Published: e. Herrmann, Seltene Orientteppiche viii, Munich 1986, pl. 36, p. 88.

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