Village and Commercial Rugs from the Caucasus

East Caucasian Long Rug
Caucasus, 19th Century
Wool pile
95.3 x 287 cm (37 1/2 x 113 in.)
Daniel Baldini Collection

CaucasianLongRug
The field of this carpet contains a diagonally placed pattern with four “spokes” and a motif known as harshang (crab) in blue, similar to one of the large carpets in the Village and Commercial Carpets of Iran section of the exhibition. It is a characteristic of Caucasian weavers that they tend to select individual motifs from an existing design ensemble and fashion them into a new pattern by enlarging and recombining them. This is in contrast to trends found elsewhere in which weavers are inclined to crowd more and more detail into a design in the belief that they are improving it.