A Caucasian Verneh horse blanket (Shadda), Southern Caucasus,

Verneh covers were woven in the Karabagh area primarily, and within this region some scholars assign them to the Shusha and the Kazak districts, and even Shirvan, see Wright, Richard E. and John T. Wertime, Caucasian Carpets and Covers: The Weaving Culture, London, 1995, p.103. Verneh vary greatly in design, but two types were especially popular with weavers; one decorated with embroidered flowers, the other portraying a camel caravan. The lot offered here depicts the popular camel caravan pattern in especially vibrant colours that are boldly offset against the rich brown background. The three rows of camels, and other animals that may be mules or horses, are embroidered in a wide variety of colours, including pumpkin, ivory, corn-flower blue, and sand. Some of the camels carry decorated trappings, whereas others are ridden by male figures. The richly adorned trappings could indicate that the procession is not actually a merchant’s caravan, but rather a wedding train. The heavily embroidered brown background of the present lot is fully decorated with small animals and geometric motifs that might signify floral vegetation along the route of the procession. The rich background decoration and the imaginative variety in the individual characteristics of each camel and rider, sets this piece apart from most verneh of this group, which normally employ a far more static and less individual version of the pattern. For a similar cover, please see Hasson, R., Caucasian Rugs, L.A. Mayer Memorial Institute for Islamic Art, Jerusalem, 1986, cat.59, p.138; for another with similar background decoration, see Landreau, Anthony N. and W. R. Pickering, From the Bosporus to Samarkand: Flat-Woven Rugs, Washington D.C., 1969, pl.98. Related verneh sold at auction include Sotheby's New York, June 3, 1989, lot 145, and December 14, 1995, lot 9.