AN AZERBAIJAN SILK EMBROIDERY, SOUTH CAUCASUS,18TH CENTURY

Cover of embroidered plain weave cotton with silk in surface darning on the diagonal and running stitch, backed with printed cotton and faced with silk satin with an interlining of cotton. Dark brown ground with a repeating design of off-set blue octagons containing 8-pointed stars in light blue, and with elongated hexagons in between. The border varies from yellow to green with S-motifs in green or light blue. 82 by 82 cm.

CATALOGUE NOTE The swirling 'pin-wheel' interiors of the blue medallions lend movement to the design of this embroidery. Related examples are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, see Jennifer Wearden, "A Synthesis of Contrasts," Hali, issue 59, fig. 18, p.111 and in the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, illustrated in Zsuzsa Gombos, "Azerbaijan," Hali, issue 26, p. 28.