Although made in Russian Turkestan, Samarkand weavings are Chinese in every respect.
This particular piece displays three round medallions or circles of happiness, also butterflies and various Chinese plant forms. The first and third border stripes are composed of one of the Chinese lotus bud border designs, while the central stripe consists of the swastika fret.
DAGHESTAN PRAYER RUG
Size, 4'8" × 4'2".
BY COURTESY OF NAHIGIAN BROS., CHICAGO, ILL.
Owners' Description.—In all the rugs that we have imported from the Caucasian provinces we do not recollect having seen one with a finer texture than this Daghestan. It has as many knots to the square inch as the finest Kashan rugs, which, as is well understood, are the finest products of the Persian looms.
The "barber pole" stripes in the border, the reciprocal Van Dyke design, and the "wine glass" figure in the widest border are all characteristic designs found in Caucasian rugs. Even the niche is similar to other Daghestan prayer rugs. But we see at once Persian influences in the field of the rug.
The "flame" design as it is called here, which is in reality a variation of the familiar "river loop" or "El-Ayassi" pattern, and which is distinctly a Persian figure, is here used throughout the field. As if to emphasize the theory that the flame, which the early Persians worshipped, is represented by this design, each individual figure is made to give off rays of light and warmth.
Another interesting and noticeable feature in this rug is that while in Persian fabrics like the Sereband, where this or a very similar design is used, the figures are almost all exactly alike, whereas here they differ considerably and no two are alike in detail.
(See page [254])