Sotheby's Los Angeles, 1 June, 1981, Lot 64; Hali 4/1, Spring 1981, p.88; Edelmann's New York,12 December, 1981, Lot 260; Hali 4/3, Autumn 1982, p.307

Comparable yellow-ground Kuba rugs with a design of rows of stylised shrubs as seen here are discussed in Hali 63, June 1992, Marketplace, p.134, an example sold Rippon Boswell, Wiesbaden, 28 March 1992, Lot 146, which considers them as ’post-classical’ (late 18th/early 19th century) Caucasian weavings related to earlier Anatolian rugs and to Shield carpets. In their review of the long rug sold Grogan Dedham, 12 January 2009, lot 92 (sold for $37,375), Hali Issue 159, Spring 2009, APG, p.125, the reviewer knew of six other rugs of this field design with stylised arabesque border, cf. Herrmann, E., Seltene Orientteppiche IX, Munich, 1987, Nr.34, p. 84. These cited examples share the same inner crenellated border as the present lot, as does a further example sold Grogan & Co., Boston, 20 May 2012, Lot 510A (sold for $44,250), so it seems likely that the border of the lot offered here was of the arabesque type. The addition of a prayer arch is an unusual feature; Herrmann publishes one with this field and a stepped blue arch, but within a rosette border in Herrmann, E., Seltene Orientteppiche V, Munich, 1983,Nr.25, p.57,which is noted in Hali 159, op.cit. p.125.