Antique Cappadocia Kilim

18th Century Anatolian Ghordes Rug Size 118 x 165 cm

With 'floating' columns and an enlarged 'mosque lamp' motif dominating the red field of the mihrab, this so-called 'Basra Ghiordes ' prayer rug belongs to a subgroup of 18th century red-ground west Anatolian Ghiordes and Kula single niche rugs that preserve many of the characteristics of their 17th century 'Transylvanian' precursors.

Among several examples published by Stefano Ionescu in 'Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania', 2005, Cat. 216-220, it most closely resembles Cat. 216, an early 18th century rug formerly in the Evangelical Parish Church and now in the Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania (M.1625), with which it shares the rosette, palmette and leaf bracket primary border as well as the highly stylized jagged ascending plant design in the blue-ground spandrels and floral panel above. Interestingly, when inverted (as it would have been woven), the hanging ornament morphs into a well-drawn ibrik (ewer) motif.