Location of Manufacture: The town of Kuba is situated in the Caucasus, in the Daghestan district south of the town of Derbent.

General description: An associate group to the Shirvan and Daghestan, the carpets appear to have been woven by Armenians living in the area. Indeed, the so-called ‘Dragon carpets’ were at one time called ‘Armenian’. Today they are called Dragon Kuba. These carpets are characterised by what appears to be ‘Dragons’ which run lengthways, between linked diamond trellis. The design has strong overtones of the geometric mythical creatures motifs of China, such as the t’ao-t’ieh and kuei dragon. In addition to rugs with this design, rugs were made with other designs similar to Daghestan. One such consists of a central line of alternate squares and rectangles inter spaced with animal figures: indeed, animal figures combined with other Caucasian elements is a feature of Kuba rugs. Borders are mostly broad with an ‘S’ shaped pattern. Colours tend to be red and blue as well as various other striking colours.

Specification: Loom - horizontal. Warp - Wool. Weft - Wool (red). Pile - Wool, deep. Knot - Turkish, about 50 - 100 knots per square inch. Motif - ‘dragon’ or as above.