A Central Anatolian carpet

Alexander, C., A Foreshadowing of 21^st Century Art The Color and Geometry of Very Early Turkish Carpets, New York, 1993, pp. 322 - 324, ill. pp. 60 & 323.

Overall measurements; 157cm across the top, 160cm across the bottom, 357cm the right hand side, 355cm left hand side. Pile variable, knotbars to approx. 2mm. Cut and joined in borders, and section of green ground rewoven, stepped across width of carpet. Missing outer borders and edges with later binding. Metal hoops attached to underside of top edge for hanging.
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The present carpet is one of the more unusual in the Alexander collection; comparisons can only be drawn to individual elements of the design. Alexander likens it to a Chinese carpet illustrated in a scroll painting in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Dimand. M.S., J. Mailey., Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, p.22. He also compares it to a Fostat fragment within the Keir Collection, Sphuler. F., Islamic Carpets and Textiles in the Kier Collection, London, 1978, p.31, no.3. In common with many of Alexander's pieces, this carpet is both rare and remarkable and has wonderful, exuberant colour.