678. a startling old Lenkoran Caucasian tribal rug

678. Provenance: Lenkoran, Talish, Southern Azerbaijan, The Caucasus

Size: 300 x 147 cm

Age: Circa 1920

Condition: Pretty good for age. Some reweaves and a repaired tear.

Notes: A delightful tribal rug, displaying all the invigorating naivity for which true 19th Century Caucasians are justly famed. Lenkoran was once the capital of the khanate of Talish, and lies in the southern Caucasus, on the Caspian Sea. This piece features two major Lenkoran medallions, which may be large geometricized calyx or derived from ealier dragon motifs. These medallions have four arms (though they sometimes have but two), and have about them the look of insects or perhaps scorpians. The uneveness of the medallions lends a particularly naive, almost childlike appearance to the rug.