Runner - Gandja carpet

The long and narrow, pile carpet style (runner), the lively yellow, light blue, green and red colouring, and the geometric patterns are characteristic of early, classical carpets from Ganja (Genje). The yellow-base make-up area is ornamented with a net of octagons, filled with stars whose colours (red, green, dark blue, and blue) shift diagonally. In the ivory-coloured main stripe of its border, colourful rosettes and quadruple leaf motifs alternate. In the outer and inner side borders, rows of black reciprocal lilies run against a green and blue base, respectively. Of special importance is the fact that the carpet is dated and the name of its Armenian owner (Voskan) is known. This item was purchased by the Museum of Applied Arts from Mrs Sándor Barcsay in 1986. According to the seller's family traditions, it had once ornamented the proscenium before the altar in Bishop Ottokár Prohászka's (1858-1927) private chapel in Székesfehérvár. This might explain its uneven fraying.

See also: Museum With No Frontiers