Tapestry - Alpujarra rug /bedcover

The Alpujarra rugs (or bedcovers) with pile in loops were produced in the Alpujarra region south of Granada between the 15th-16th and the 19th centuries. Alpujarra rugs or covers are classified as European folk art and were influenced by Eastern rugs.
The cover was woven in three parts on a narrow beam loom, then stitched together. The weaver used only three colours of mercerized cotton (ivory, abrashed saffron yellow and light green) and metal thread. The yellow ground field is adorned with a diagonal lattice with green and ivory rosettes in the rhombuses. A two-headed eagle with a crown is in the centre. On the lower edge of the field in the inscription “DONA ROSALIA BTAVO” (BRAVO?). The border is green and has a crowned lion in each of the four corners. Between the lions is an alternating pattern of rosettes and pairs of doves atop bowls. The outer border contains stylised lilies alternating with star rosettes.
Alfréd Hoffman, owner of Eggenberger, one of the oldest book companies in Pest (founded in 1768), donated the bedcover in 1894 to the Museum of Applied Arts in accordance with the will of friend, János Kovachich-Molnár (1838-1894), who had been his business partner since 1863.

See also: Museum With No Frontiers