Vintage Deco French Carpet 42524

French Rug, Ecuador, Early 20th Century - This extraordinary French Art Deco carpet is adapted from the famous Ice Age cave paintings discovered at Lascaux in the southwest of France.These paintings were hunting scenes including a wide range of animals, some of them now extinct, like the aurochs or giant bison.Originally created as shamanistic ritual paintings intended to insure a successful hunt, these designs still convey an aura of primitive vitality and atavistic power. The palette, emulating the natural earth tone pigments and cool gray rocky setting of the original paintings, renders the carpet an excellent decorative piece, while the abstract style of the drawing is strikingly modern.