Antique English Arts and Crafts Rug, circa 1900 - This extraordinary antique English carpet exemplifies a long tradition in its response to classical Turkish rug weaving. Designs of this type, known as "Small-pattern Holbein," were produced extensively in Turkey during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and already in Elizabethan England they were being copied in needlepoint technique. This example, however, woven in full pile is highly unusual, all the more so for its faithful and accurate rendering of all the classic details and the rich coloration. The masterful treatment of the knotwork ornament, above all in the border, is simply magnificent and entirely worthy of its great classical predecessors.
