PROBABLY KARABAGH, CIRCA 1800

Details

A SOUTH CAUCASIAN DRAGON CARPET
PROBABLY KARABAGH, CIRCA 1800
Overall wear, corroded black, border reweaves, scattered small repairs and repiling, sunfaded at one end
17ft.9in. x 7ft.10in. (540cm. x 238cm.)

Provenance

Anon sale in these Rooms, 24 April 2012, lot 40

Special notice

This lot will be removed to an off-site warehouse at the close of business on the day of sale - 2 weeks free storage These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

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Lot Essay

The design of this carpet corresponds with the final phase of the evolution of the Caucasian Dragon carpet as outlined by Charles Grant Ellis, (Early Caucasian Rugs, Washington D.C., 1975). In this group the lattice is relaxed, the design breaks up into abstract palmettes and the dragons are reduced to serpentine lines. In the present example the lattice disperses in the top half of the carpet as the weaver loosened the design increasingly as the carpet progressed. The palmettes appear to float and small animals and figures populate the field. The design relates closely to two examples in Istanbul illustrated in Serare Yetkin (Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, London, 1978, pl.21 - an incomplete example in the Turk ve Islam Eserleri Museum, Inv.no.97 - and pl.151).

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