A North West Anatolian silk carpet, early 20th century

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Anatolian weavers, particularly those in the Koum Kapi workshops, looked to classical carpets as inspiration for their weavings. The design of the present large, silk carpet derives from eighteenth century Caucasian ‘blossom’ carpets, see Ellis 1975, pl.22, Jacoby 1923, pl.13, and HALI, no.109, p.92. The design of the border is also related but executed in a wider scale and with more curvilinear drawing than its eighteenth century forebears.