Lot 160

KAZAK RUG

This antique Caucasian carpet is living proof of the complex issue surrounding old Caucasian carpets, which concerns not only the classification of individual pieces into different regional subtypes, but also their complicated and inconsistent nomenclature. The name of a single region, now located in Armenia, has become established as the general designation for Caucasian carpets, and when looking at our specimen, it is not difficult to understand why the striking and energetic design of the so-called Kazaks has spilled over into the designation of all Caucasian carpets - including those with a different structure from the southern regions (Karabakh) and the eastern Caucasus (mainly present-day Azerbaijan). 
However, to illustrate the complexity of the situation, it should be added that this is most likely the work of an Armenian weaver, created in what is now Georgia at a time when it was part of Tsarist Russia, although for most carpets in the Caucasus it is impossible to say with certainty which ethnic group wove them. The distinctive hexagonal medallions in vibrant colors with almost totemic decorative geometric motifs, including stars and fauna, are mostly associated with the Shulaver region. A fine example from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.