Object Description
The history of English carpetweaving begins around the 16th Century, but experienced a real renaissance during the mid 19th Century, incorporating a vast array of new colours and styles, often drawn from folk patterns, in part due to the impact of the burgeoning Arts and Crafts movement, pioneered in Britain by figures like William Morris and C.F.A. Voysey.
This highly unusual example, dating to around the beginning of the 20th Century, borrows its design from earlier Bessarabian kilims from the Balkans, known for their striking, graphic motifs, influenced by both Eastern and Western textiles. It features a stamped sheaf-of-wheat pattern, in pastel tones over a very rare sky-blue blue field, flanked by a raspberry border of great proportions. The palette in the drawing – with soft, earthy tones of hazelnut, sage green, camel, and lilac – is at once diverse and yet well-balanced enough to feel understated and subtle, well suited to this carpet’s simplistic, naive design.
Retained in very good condition for everyday use, though with some age-related restoration, completed to a high standard – its colours have taken on a wonderful patina, with good pile throughout.
A striking statement piece, and surely one of the most unusual and creative European weavings we have come across in some time.