SOUTH CAUCASUS, CIRCA 1880

The bold design of this rug with its sea-green field, comprising a central white-ground octagonal medallion surrounded by four white-ground squares, is characteristic of Karachopf Kazak rugs, woven in a 2:1:2 formation. A comparison of green-ground Karachopfs reveals that there are various sub-groups which differ in ornamentation and palette, and must have been woven in different villages. The present rug relates to the star-filled octagon group that is frequently paired with the 'leaf and calyx' border design. Here the rug displays a more unusual variant that comprises an alternating pattern of paired hooked brackets with squared groups of small inward facing arrows. A comparable example displaying a similar star-filled octagon and squares sold in these Rooms, 23 July 2020, lot 66.