Rugs, Carpets & Textiles

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh

Name: Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh
Brand: Fil Caravan
SKU: 277988891955
Price: 3600.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Hand-knotted wool memorial rug · Karabakh highlands · dated 1916

US $3,600.00 · or best offer

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Antique Armenian wool rug with a dense lattice of small crosses on a deep red ground and an Armenian inscription woven across the upper end. — Full-field view of the 1916 memorial rug and its Hazar Khach lattice on madder red.

Description

A Yishatak (memorial) rug woven in 1916 as a permanent record of remembrance. Unlike a purely decorative weaving, it carries a formal Armenian inscription and iconography particular to the Karabakh highlands, and reads as a primary document as much as a floor covering.

The upper register holds a finely woven inscription in white wool: Թիվ 1916 Արևհատ Սարգսի Յիշատակ Ղարաբաղ, "Year 1916, Memorial of Arevhat Sargis, Karabakh." The central field is given over to the Hazar Khach (Thousand Crosses) lattice on a madder red ground, a motif associated with spiritual protection and eternity; a secondary cross is nested within every petal. Natural abrash runs through the field.

Knot counting records approximately 4.6 knots per 10 mm in weft density and 3.5 per 10 mm in warp density, about 16.1 knots per square centimeter, exceeding 100 knots per square inch. The weaving is finished with a secondary guard border system characteristic of the Karabakh tradition.

Photographs

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 2

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 3

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 4

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 5

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 6

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 7

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 8

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 9

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 10

Armenian Memorial Rug, Dated 1916, Inscribed Karabakh, photograph 11

Details

Origin	Karabakh (Ղարաբաղ)
Date	1916, woven into the inscription
Material	All wool
Design	Hazar Khach (Thousand Crosses) lattice on madder red ground
Inscription	Թիվ 1916 Արևհատ Սարգսի Յիշատակ Ղարաբաղ
Knot density	~16.1 knots per sq. cm (over 100 per sq. in.)
Reference	eBay item 277988891955

Condition

An honest survivor, with wear consistent with a century of use while retaining the lustrous, silky pile expected of early Karabakh weavings. Areas of field damage show remnants of historic thread from earlier tribal cloth-patch repairs; the selvages show corresponding honest wear.