Antique Needlepoint Rug (fragment) BB4432 6'8" × 9'3" $15,000

A late 19th century needlepoint antique rug, the dark chocolate brown field with six compartments containing either a rectangular-formed leafy floral arrangement or a vase issuing a lush bouquet within a similar border with interspersed camel cartouches.

NEEDLEPOINT RUGS

The ancient craft of needlepoint, also known a ‘canvas needle-work’, ‘canvas embroidery’ or ‘petit point’ flourished most notably in England and France. Executed with wool yarn on jute, hemp, or linen canvas until the latter was replaced by cotton around 1825, needlepoints are easily identified by their distinctive stitches—the tent stitch or petit point, and gros point. English needlepoints, renowned for their profuse floral motifs, reached an artistic zenith in 1700-1750 but were produced through the end of the nineteenth century. Mainly used as table antique European carpets, the earliest pieces, dating from 1550-1650, exhibited scrolls of flowers with pictorial and heraldic motifs. Eighteenth-century pieces reveal the influence of contemporary artistic movements including baroque, chinoiserie, neoclassical, and rococo.

A specialist rug dealer in oriental and western rugs and carpets, Doris Leslie Blau’s impressive collection of antique rugs include rare Turkish, Persian and Indian masterpieces, many of which date back to the Medieval Age.