Caucasus, Shirvan Provence
Carpet (Sileh)
INV-4139
Caucasus, Shirvan Provence1864
Carpet (Sileh)
Caucasus, Shirvan Provence
dagestancaucasiancentral asianasiantextileweaving - carpet
Date
1864
Medium
Cotton and wool, plain weave with discontinuous supplementary wrapping wefts (soumak); square braided main warp fringe
Dimensions
346.7 × 230 cm (136 1/2 × 90 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Chapman
The prevalent Chinese dragon design appears on this sileh, or flat-woven soumak carpet, from the Caucasus. These geometric dragons are flying with thier tails high in the air, and the bottom extensions of the backward "S" shapes represent their lower jaws. Carpets with inscriptions and dates are extremely rare, but this example is even more remarkable beacause it was woven in one piece; the large majority of such carpets were woven in two parts. Its exceptionally rich coloring, including a wide range of blue and green tones is also an unusual feature.
Also notable
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