Shirvan long rug

Shirvan long rug

from the eastern Caucasus

late 19th century

Size: 330 x 175 cm

Rugs from the Transcaucasus are generally finer in their knotting, shorter in pile and show more often small scale repeating patterns when compared to Kazak and Karabagh rugs further south in the Caucasus.

Old Shirvan rugs such as this most unusually large example are admired for their vitality and spontaneity of design and colour – monumental lozenge-shaped medallions on a red ground surrounded by a myriad of small geometric motifs, protective amulets, stylised plants and animals, all scattered across an indigo field.