Azerbaijan Embroidery
Azerbaijan, 18th century
136 x 109 cm (4' 6" x 3' 7")
Condition: good according to age, sides and ends partially incomplete, some abrasions and small lacking parts
Silk on linen

The colour range of Azerbaijani embroideries falls into two distinct groups. One has strong and stable colours of a wide spectrum very much related to Caucasian carpets; the other has a mild pastel palette. In "Stars of the Caucasus" Penny Oakley suggest a Turkish influence on the stronger-coloured cross-stitch examples and the dyes 'probably made by the region's Turkic population', with the pastel and not-so-fast colours coming from or via Iran.
Even though there is some fading in these colours it is clear that a softer palette was desired. In his "Kaukasische Teppiche, 1961" Ulrich Schürmann therefore placed embroidery 142 in Surahani near Baku, probably relating such examples to the Baku rugs with a similar tonality. But it seems that most of these rugs are so late that they can't really prove much.
There are very few examples of oriental weavings which were meant to be in pastel tones, 'Polonaise' carpets being one of them. They show similar tones of light blues, apricot and yellow. This would chime with Penny Oakley's observations.
The general layout of this piece is not entirely different from the other piece in this auction. Here as well we have a star in the centre, even though the corners are somewhat hidden, surrounded by cartouches. But the whole approach is geometric and even the flower forms within the motifs are abstract. In the corners we see parts of the same star as in the centre, forming an endless repeat pattern which is framed by a border of 'S' forms; these could be derived from depictions of dragons in carpets of that name.
A very interesting example with the same underlying design principle as No. 31 is published in Adil Besim, "Mythos und Mystik, Band 1, 1998". Here an earlier (design, not textile), more curvilinear variation of the layout can be found. In that piece the central focus point is what is here the secondary, square motif, and four star medallions surround it. Here as well the border cuts into them to suggest an endless repeat.
In the catalogue description of this piece Detlef Maltzahn points out a carpet in the Turk ve Islam museum Istanbul which is almost identical in design, including the S border (Serare Yetkin, Early Caucasian Carpets in Turkey, 1978, pl. 39). The rug is shown in black-and-white and dated to the 19th century; it is difficult to judge if it possibly could be older and therefore contemporary to our embroidery.
There are several examples of this design in the 'strong colours' group of Azerbaijani embroideries. An example formerly in the Orient Stars collection is especially notable. See Stars of the Caucasus, page 201. If we follow the design development into the 19th century we actually end up with the Alpan Kuba rugs.