Avar carpet (630)

Avar carpet from eastern Caucasus,west coast of the Caspian Sea.

Age: circa 1880

Size: 12′.0″x5′.9″ (366×175 cm)

Although it looks like a large southwestern Kazak carpet is in fact a very rare pile Avar from the northeastern Caucasus.The abrashed red field shows five approximately similar hooked and ragged medallions in ivory,aubergine,red,blue,green and yellow.There are secondary cartouches in similar colors and there are tertiary octagons in ivory,yellow,aubergine,blue and black.The color range is extremely broad.In addition there are numerous small unusual geometric elements in the field.On three sides of the dark blue main border are barred  X’s in the Shirvan manner,while at the bottom border are rosettes,medallions and stylized flowers.A narrow quincunx border surrounds the field.There is a red and white barber pole line at the outer edge.The red selvedges are original and intact.All the colors are from natural sources.The knots are depressed and the carpet is heavy.The piece is in good condition and is folded to fit the camera.