Early Azerbaijan textile, 18th century or earlier, possibly Karabagh. Bruce and Olive Baganz

Embroidered textiles of this type have been collected for well over a century, however, little is known about them. They are often
dated to the eighteenth century, but may in fact be considerably older. Examples from one subcategory closely copy designs of
sixteenth-century Safavid court textiles, raising questions about the length of time it takes for court designs to circulate down
through society and be used in the provinces. This panel demonstrates the embroiderer’s familiarity with carpet designs. The four
curling horn motifs in the central rectangle are similar to so-called Perepedil designs seen in the Caucasian (Kuba) carpets. Another
design element, the stars-and-bars in the four corner octagons, recalls analogous motifs in fifteenth-century Turkish and Persian (Iranian) carpets, as well as in slightly later Egyptian examples.