The exceptional quality of this red- and blue-ground Azeri cover (shadda) is striking. The ground is very finely woven, and the designs in the sumakh and brocading techniques are drawn with care. Six nested diamonds and three smaller diamonds adorn the field. The upper and lower ends of the field present a row of three and seven four-legged animals respectively, while three human figures depicted below the centre stretch out their arms horizontally as if attempting to join hands. The open red field and the wide, deep blue lateral sections are interlocked by large reciprocal trefoils outlined in white. Formerly in the Chapman Collection, Chicago, the cover was presented in 1969 at the influential flatweave exhibition, "From the Bosporus to Samarkand. Flat-Woven Rugs" at the Washington Textile Museum. Later it was acquired by Bernheimer, the Munich art dealers, where Vok purchased it. – Very good condition.

Literature: AMPE, PATRICK & RIE, Textile Art. A personal choice (Kailash Gallery). Antwerp 1994, no. 31

Published: LANDREAU, ANTHONY N. & PICKERING, W. R., From the Bosporus to Samarkand. Flat-Woven Rugs. (Textile Museum exhibition catalogue) Washington, D.C. 1969, no. 112 *** VOK, IGNAZIO, Vok Collection. Anatolia. Kilims and other Flatweaves from Anatolia. (Text by Udo Hirsch) Munich 1997, no. 39

From: South Caucasus, Azerbaijan

Dimensions: 197 x 162 cm

Age: Second half 19th century