Posted by Wendel Swan on August 04, 1999 at 07:58:52:
Dear participants,
A rug with similar motifs as are in the yellow ground rug appeared recently on eBay (Jerry Silverman brought it to my attention) and I thought it would be interesting to compare it here. While I was familiar with this design in a few pile rugs, I had not expected chance encounters with related pieces during the course of this discussion. It is often astonishing to see just how many examples of a particular design exist.
Although it has a similar border and primary motifs, the eBay rug seems to come from a geographically close region (NWP or the Southern Caucasus) but outside the weaving culture that produced the yellow ground rug.
My personal tastes tend to favor precision and orderliness, but the motifs in the blue ground seem stiff and crowded, while the feeling of the entire rug lacks the spontaneity that Steve referred to earlier. In addition, the number, clarity, contrast and range of colors in the yellow ground rug make it much more desirable to my eye.
Also, in this blue ground rug, the motifs have involved into forms that the seller has rather imaginatively called "faces."
Although the quality of the drawing, wool and color are not necessarily indicative of age, I believe the yellow ground rug to be at least one or two generations earlier than the blue ground example.
What are your thoughts?
Wendel