A Ghiordes prayer rug, West Anatolia,

Herrmann, Eberhart, Von Konya bis Kokand: Seltene Orientteppiche, Munich, no. 7

Ghiordes prayer rugs such as this form a group of refined and aesthetically successful village rugs whose designs are derived from Ottoman workshop rugs, such as the 16th century prayer rug in the Walters Art Gallery, see Ettinghausen, Richard, et al, Prayer Rugs, Washington, D.C., 1974, pl. II.  The lush floral decoration of these court rugs has here become highly stylized.  A rug very similar to the present lot was sold recently at Christie's London, 9 October 2006, lot 50, and other examples are in the Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, see Ionescu, Stefano, Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, Rome, 2005, cat. 216, p. 17, as well as in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, see Dimand and Mailey, see Dimand, M.S. and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, fig. 187op.cit., fig. 198.