a unique set of 3 charming and very finely knotted salt bags with striped kilim backs each woven in one piece, unstitched at the edges. The Memling guls, checkerboard centres, positive and negative colour designs have Memling guls and internal checkerboard pattern identical to that in a 19th century rug owned by John Howe attributed to "Zakatalan." Zakatala according to Wikipedia is on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbijan. i understand from John that one indicator of Zakatalan rugs is an S-spun warp. The warp on the salt bags is a very finely spun two ply natural light brown sheep wool, twisted to the left (S-spun) and an average of 20 warp threads to the inch. John Howe also refers to an example of a 19th century rug with square coloured checkerboards and Memling guls attributed to Kurdish weavers in Eastern Anatolia. The three salt bags are clearly contemporary with each other and made by the same weaver with two small skillfully made antique repairs to the bottom of the kilim backs which i only noticed when photographing the inside. I believe that the salt bags are early 1900s. The pile is in very good condition with a few small old moth bites and the kilim backs give more of an indication of age. The dyes are natural and aniline. Any suggestions as to their origin and more information on a possible Zakatalan provenance would be welcome. Each salt bag is 46cm x 38cm For detailed photos see: http://www.sculpture-ireland.com/www.kilim.ie/TRIBAL_RUGS_and_KILIMS/Pag... Please email me for more information.