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SIZE: 69 1/4 x 46 1/4 in. (175.9 x 117.5 cm.)
WARP: wool, Z3S; ivory
WEFT: wool, z2s x 2; ivory, gray, brown
PILE: wool, Z2S, symmetrical knots straight or pulled to the right, h. 9, v.
8, 72 k/sq. in.; ivory, dark brown, red-brown, red (abrash), light red,
yellow, gold, green, light green, dark blue (abrash), blue, light blue,
light purple, blue-black, several colors plied together
ENDS:top: 3 rows of blue wool countered sumak; bottom: 4 rows of blue wool
countered sumak; off-set knotted warp fringe
SIDES: cut, modern cord attached
Eastern Caucasus Pictorial Rug, 2nd half of the 19th century
The paucity of information available to Western rug scholars about Caucasian
folk traditions hampers any interpretation of what this rug depicts. Perhaps
it commemorates a wedding, with the bride and groom appearing as the smaller
female and male figures at the lower left. Careful comparison of the upper
figures, three couples and three horsemen, with their counterparts below
reveals consistent differences: the horsemen sport dissimilar saddle
blankets and hold unlike items — falcons at the bottom and small implements
that may be knives at the top -and the women wear their white scarves
differently. Possibly this denotes a gathering of two separate tribal groups
The precise drawing and painstaking use of 14 colors suggest that the weaver
took great care in the planning and execution of the rug.
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