Antique Kuba Perepedil rug, 1860-70's, North East Azerbaijan. published at Ralph Kaffel's Caucasian Prayer Rugs as plate 48. 119 x 257 cm.

This rug was exhibited at the Oriental Rugs from Pacific Collections show during the sixth ICOC conference in San Francisco (17-20 November 1990). It was published as plate 180 in the accompanying catalogue, where Murray Eiland wrote: 'The graceful rendition of geometric forms that are often cramped together in these rugs gives this example an unusual appeal. It provides an excellent example of how successful a rug can be, even with a small amount of synthetic mauve, which does not in
the least upset the composition or colour scheme... The Perepedil design is often associated with rugs of the Kuba district, but this example, with no depression of alternate warps, seems typically Shirvan in weave.'

Be that as it may, the rug's design features are consistent with Perepedil rugs down to the smallest details. Two light blue squares containing animals near the bottom end of the rug are unusual for this type Perepedil prayer rugs of such length are rare, with some examples being of the double-niche variety. There is a single niche unpublished example in the collection of Ross Winter of Canada, and a somewhat smaller example (measuring 110 x 180 cm/3'7"x5'9") was sold at Rippon in 1987, dated to the mid nineteenth century.

Text and image from Ralph Kaffel's Caucasian Prayer Rugs.