Vintage Russian Bessarabian Botanic Handmade Wool Rug BB2256 4'1" × 6'4" $10,000

An early 20th century Russian Bessarabian rug, the vertically striated indigo and pale green field with an allover symmetrical design of angular flowering vines and flowerheads, within a sand flowerhead and vine border.

Rug production was introduced to Europe by the Moors of Spain between the eighth and thirteenth centuries. While Oriental rugs initially had a significant influence on European rugs designs, various regions came to develop their own unique styles and techniques over time. In France, starting in the seventeenth century, factories in Savonnerie and Aubusson began producing some of the most exceptional antique rugs of the last few centuries. From 1660 until 1743 Savonnerie was a manufacture royal, carrying out commissions for pile rugs and carpets specifically designed for the Royal Palaces. In England, high-quality beautiful rugs production in the town of Axminster in the late 18th century gradually paved the way for the Arts and Crafts rugs in the late nineteenth century when William Morris designed a pattern for an Axminster rug.