Akstafa Verneh
247 x 191 cm (8' 1" x 6' 3")
Azerbaijan, second half 19th century
Condition: very good, minor small repairs at the kilim ends, minor signs of use
Warp: wool, weft: wool and cotton

This spectacular bird Verneh is one of the best that we have ever seen. The warp colour changes three times and the wefts colour changes twice to blue to add variation to the rows of decoration, and the fineness of the extra weft wrapping to create the detail is remarkable.
The Akstafa style birds are beautifully drawn and even have decoration within their bodies and the feathered tail plumes.
The higher quality and earlier examples tend to have more detail and more colours such as obvious in the examples, but the strong and clear yellow is quite unusual.
Attributed to the regions around Baku in Azerbaijan, this prestige weavings would not be out of place in the Carpet Museum in that city such is its high quality. Of particular note is the height achieved in the individual designs, within later examples can tend towards horizontal elongation rather than vertical.