WEST ANATOLIA, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

The present lot relates to a sub-group of 'Transylvanian' prayer rugs with flowering-stem spandrels and additional floral ornaments at the shoulders and apex of the niche, which gives the effect of a hanging mosque lamp. There are a number of these rugs in the collection of the Black Church in Braov illustrated in Stefano Ionescu, Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, Rome, 2005, pp.146-148. The elongated proportions of the present rug are particularly similar to an example in Eberhart Herrmann, Seltene Orientteppiche IX, Munich, 1987, no.1, p.18.