C151121
C151121€4835
ORIGIN
East Caucasus
PERIOD
Dated 1896
CONDITION
Very good
CONDITION REPORT
Minimal signs of wear
CONSTRUCTION
Warp, wool; weft, wool
DIMENSIONS
366cms x 163cms
CATEGORY
-
NOTES
Hull and Luczyc-Wyhowska (p. 241) makes the point that Kuba kilims in general have a greater diversity of composition than other Caucasian kilims and their colours vary from a dark to a softer palette.
This piece tends more towards the softer shades which are held together with a judicious use of white throughout emphasising the impression that the lighter coloured medallions in the main field are floating in the deep blue ground. Even the abrasions in the ‘blue’ end of the rug contribute to the ethereal quality the rug evokes despite the slightly heavier feel created by the main border which holds and balances the composition together as a whole. The placing of an animal figure centre top of the rug is almost totemic and mysteriously refers back to the similar animal figure on the left-hand side in line with the first pair of medallions at the bottom end of the field: seriously playful and/or significant? Whatever: the detail is both engaging and charming.
Dated 1896 the rug has three further inscriptions.
The acutely geometric reciprocal secondary border together with the saw-toothed outer border compared with the overall softer palette of the rug, infuses it with a pleasingly striking presence.
Borrowing from the theories of the French anthropologist Levi-Strauss regarding the ‘indigenous thinker’ this rug is both good to look at and good to think with.
