Karapinar Tulip Rug from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

This magnificent carpet is Plate 36 in the late Charles Grant Ellis's, Oriental Carpets in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988. Ellis catalogues this carpet as Kilim-Style Rug, Central Anatolia, Eighteenth-Nineteenth Century. At this point I tend to suspect that this rug is older but I hate to disagree with Charlie Ellis casually so I will think about it for a while.

Divrigi Ulu Mosque North entrance
Photo by Dick Osseman

Ellis notes the lack of dark outlining typical in Turkish rugs and suggests that this gives the carpet a effect like we see in kilim and tile. He compares this carpet to a kilim found in the Great Mosque at Divrigi (left) in terms of color and the lack of outlining and to a number of other kilims in terms of the lack of outlining.

How to navigate SpongoBongo and find anything. The problem is that this site mirrors my thought process and it is hard to find things. The secret is that it is intended to be navigated from Google. But if you want another way try my sitesearch. Also try Oriental Rugs and Carpets Site Map.