Antique Kuba (Quba) Chichi Rug, Caucasus, c. 1900
A viewing is a request, not a booking: we write back within 24 hours to confirm a time, in open hours or out of them. No account needed.
ABOUT THIS PIECE
The Chichi rugs of the Kuba highlands are among the most celebrated design groups of the Caucasus, and this piece carries both of their defining signatures in textbook form. The field is a tessellation of polychrome rosettes in madder red, salmon, moss green and indigo, turning through a white star lattice. The navy minor borders carry the famous Chichi repeat of diagonal serrated bars alternating with rosettes, which remains one of the most recognisable motifs in antique Caucasian weaving.
The rug was woven around 1900 to the 1920s on a wool foundation and is dyed throughout with the traditional natural palette. Our in-house analysis documented pronounced dye-lot abrash in the madder field, a compound green of indigo over botanical yellow, and differential corrosion of the iron-mordant brown outlines. That corrosion gently recesses the dark lines and throws the rosettes into soft relief. Collectors value it as an age credential in its own right. The striped kilim ends, characteristic of the Kuba district, have been professionally conserved to the last intact line. The pile is full and the handle supple.
At 263 x 190 cm this is an unusually generous format for the type, since antique Chichis were rarely woven at room size. It suits a living room as readily as a wall, and it comes with our complete analytical and conservation record.
Specs: Origin: Kuba district, Caucasus. Design: Chichi rosette lattice, Sirt-chichi type. Age: circa 1900 to 1920s. Materials: hand-knotted wool pile on wool foundation, natural dyes. Size: 263 x 190 cm.
SPECIFICATIONS
How it sits in your room.
263 × 190 CM (8'8" × 6'3"), DRAWN TO SCALE WITH TYPICAL AUSTRALIAN FURNITURE SIZES.
A 2-seater sofa along the long side with its front legs on the rug and 47 cm of rug past each arm, a coffee table on the rug. It is not deep enough for armchairs opposite as well.
The chairs sit on the rug at the table, but with 55 cm of rug beyond the table their back legs catch the edge when pulled out. 60 cm is the comfortable margin.
Under the lower part of a queen bed with 55 cm of rug showing on each side, so your feet land on it either side of the bed.
Measure the room, or just the area the rug should cover, and we will draw this rug in it to scale.
