Caucasian Gence (Ganja) Runner

A long-format tribal runner from Gence (Ganja) in the Central Caucasus, woven in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The field carries a classic all-over boteh, paisley, design, a hallmark of the region, interspersed with geometric tribal bird figures drawn from the Caucasian zoomorphic repertoire.

The palette rests on natural vegetable dyes, deep indigo and madder root among them, with a high-saturation profile that shifts between the light and dark perspectives, the signature of hand-spun, hand-knotted wool. The foundation is a distinguishing feature: warp and weft of natural, undyed twisted wool, giving a robust tribal structure. The weave uses the double Ghordian knot at roughly 80 KPSI (8 × 10 knots per linear inch).

The pile remains full and lustrous across most of the field, gauged at an even 6–7 mm.