Large rug, featuring medallions showing Holy Land flora, the façade of the Temple, amphorae and more, made at the Marbadiah workshop at Bezalel. [Jerusalem, 1920s].
Cotton knot-pile; wool foundation.
This especially large rug features a design of close-knit medallions, each containing an example of Holy Land flora, including stalks of wheat, palm trees, cypresses and vine leaves, the Temple façade, or an amphora. Many of these motifs were inspired by ancient Jewish and Roman coins struck circa the first century AD, in the times of Herod Agrippa, the Great Revolt and the Destruction of the Second Temple. Smaller medallions show Stars of David, the Tablets of the Law and floral designs. The main border depicts an alternating pattern of palm and cypress trees within medallions; the secondary borders depict a continuous braid and repeating amphorae holding flowers in the shape of Stars of David.
Approx. 340X304 cm. Good condition. General fading. Minor damages. Suspension strip sewn along edge on verso.
Literature: Jewish Carpets, by Anton Felton. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 1997, p. 120.
Provenance: The Anton Felton Collection.