Not so far away from Karabagh on the bordering Turkish side, in Kars, native people were also knotting Caucasian Rugs for centuries. This knotting tradition was "alive" up untill 1970's in Turkey. Nowadays the production is non existent and moneywise almost impossible without government funding. Even with the government funded projects, the problem is the lost collective memory of the tradition. Models are either misinterpreted or amateurly excluded. This piece you can see on the upper part of the page dates to the late period of tradition. Likely between 1940-1960. Pieces with lion motifs were usually made as decorative parts of a dowry rather than an everyday rug. This results in many fresh looking pieces that are almost antiques. Karabagh tradition shows itself on the details of flowers and in the colour palette of the entire piece. The piece was signed by the artist with her initial. Sometimes this signature might appear as a whole name and even a date. This piece is a kilim, a flatweave rug type. Dimensions are not standard, which supports the idea that piece waas not knotted for commercial purposes.
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