Konya Bozkir prayer rug

Konya Bozkir prayer rug
from Taurus Mts, central Turkey
circa 1880
Size: 156 x 105 cm

Price: $. 8,800

For devout Moslems, the prayer rug was often their most cherished possession. This old rug was made by villagers in the Taurus mountains south of Konya, the old Seljuk capital.
Above the red field and triangular prayer arch mihrab is a pale blue and lilac panel with floral motifs representing the gardens of paradise beyond. Throughout, the motifs are all floral and typical of Anatolian prayer rugs which did not depict human or animal form. The mihrab is beautifully proportioned in relation to the wide yellow ground border creating the impression of ‘looking through’ the frame of the borders into the space beyond.