Antique Kuba "Zejwa" rug, Alikhanly or one of the neighboring villages, Devechi District, Southern Lowland Kuba Region, North East Azerbaijan.

The dark brownish-red centre is decorated with three giant sunburst medallions which are designed concentrically like the previous Alikhanly and Daghestan pieces.. Two motifs are striking in this rug. One is a variation of the four endless knots in the corners of the white middle of the central medallion, the other are the nine figures at the top and bottom; seven of them are woven into one row and two into a second one (both seven and nine are magical numbers). These motifs can be found in some early Turkmen carpets of the Igdir tribe (e.g. in the additional borders of the main carpet exhibited at the Textile Museum, Washington D. C. from the collection of George Hewitt Myers, the museum's founding father, inventory No R37.5.1., see Ulrich Schürmann, Zentral-Asiatische Teppiche, Frankfurt am Main 1969, p. 96, ill. 16).

Two stripes of vine meanders flank the main border. What is also remarkable is the second inner border on a dark brownish-red ground which is a kochak border with rams that have fairly round horns. Usually, these motifs are composed reciprocally, however, not here.

Warp: Wool, Z 3 S, light ivory.
Weft: Wool, Z2, dark brown, 2 wefts waved; sometimes a row without any weft.
Pile: Wool, Z2, red Z3-4, Pile Height:3.5 mm.
Knots: Symmetrical 1, H50xV25 =1,250 Kn/dm2.
 

published at Siyawouch Azadi "Azerbaijani Caucasian rugs", plate no: 25