An Eagle Kazak rug, Southwest Caucasus

The Bortz Collection, Sotheby's London,  May 29, 1998, lot 13

Dragons with Red Tails, Mountain Looms Gallery, Singapore, April 28 - May 21, 2000, reviewed Hali, issue 112, p. 141

Eberhart Herrmann, Seltene Orientteppiche, Vol. IV, Munich, 1982, No.44, pp. 146-7.
Hali,Vol. 5, No.2, 1982, p.208, No.7.
Ben J. Fernandes, A Weaver's Ode to Joy, Singapore, 1998, "The Herrmann Rug"

 

Pile ranges from good approximately 1/4 in. to low to knotheads in areas of foldwear and oxidation. Some foldwear areas with minor spot foundation. Aubergines oxidized down to knotheads and so are browns. Scattered visible warp ties. Some Kashmir repiling to aubergines, not extensive. There is an approximately 15in. repaired foldwear slit into upper end and an approximately 9in. repaired foldwear slit into the lower end. Right side with an approximately 15in. repaired horizontal foldwear slit. Some scattered minor spot stains. Sides mostly reselvaged and now with remnants of original 3 cord selvages. Left side with an approximately 7in. rewoven section to outer guard border. Right side with a few small reweaves to outer guard border. Ends with minor partial outer guard borders, now secured with cloth bands sewn on reverse and with chain stitch. Upper end with velcro strips sewn on reverse. Very supple handle; highly lustrous wool; very good colors. Very good overall condition for age. Highly desirable.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This rug is one of a small corpus of seven known related weavings. The others are: that formerly in the James Burns Collection, see James Burns, The Caucasus: Traditions in Weaving, Seattle, 1987, pl. 10 and on the cover of Hali, Issue 36; an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (T264-1927), see Hali, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 99, fig. 7; one in the National Gallery of Prague, see Hali, Issue 149, p. 99; the Richardson rug, see Julia Bailey, Through the Collector's Eye: Oriental Rugs from New England Private Collections, Rhode Island, 1991, p. 18, fig. 4; the Liambei rug, see Hali, Issue 167, p. 157; and one sold Christie's London, October 8, 2013, lot 24. A fragmentary rug related to the group, but without the central sunburst medallion, also on a blue ground, is illustrated David Sylvester, et. al., Il Tappeto Orientale dal XV al XVIII Secolo, Milan, 1982, pl. 19. The closest example to the present lot is the Burns rug, dated by Burns to the mid-eighteenth century. These two rugs share similar minor and major borders and a field design, which includes complete pendant palmette motifs supporting the main medallion, flanked by large hooked leaves and plants. The V&A rug also has a very similar field composition, but has the same main border as the blue-ground rug sold by Christie's London in 2013. The drawing in the latter example was assigned to the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century and is the most static in the group. One palmette is truncated, suggesting this latter rug is the youngest of the cited pieces. The design of these rugs is clearly a development of the eighteenth century Caucasian 'floral' carpets, themselves descended from seventeenth century Safavid prototypes, but this small group of rugs shows the only physical evidence for the transition of design between the large carpets of the 1700s and the ubiquitous Eagle Kazak rugs of the nineteenth century. The example offered here is outstanding for its condition, high quality of the wool, and broad range of rich colors.