Sotheby’s New York, 14 December, 2006, Lot 209

The intricate central medallion, the so-called ‘Ghirlandaio’ medallion, is named for its appearance in Domenico Ghirlandaio’s painting ‘The Virgin and Child Enthroned’ of circa 1483 in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. The design proved consistently popu꧋lar and versions continue to appear in rugs for the following 400 years. Herrmann notes of this rug “A well presented mid nineteenth Century interpretation of the 16th/17th C. ‘Ghirlandaio’ design with carefully placed motifs, directed by the rules of Astromathematics, in happy colours. The pleasing measure proportion might relate to an identity of 19 sun years with 235 lunations of the moon.”