Aksaray rug, central Anatolia, 1700s

An unusual and dramatic Turkish rug from central Anatolia and possibly woven in one of the villages around Aksaray. This is an early piece and is probably the second oldest example of this design. The oldest one -- on an ivory ground -- was formerly in the possession of Franz Sailer, then of Salzburg, who published it in an exhibition catalogue for TEFA in Maastricht in the early 1990s. He identified it as Aksaray, early 17th century.

Dennis Dodds Collection