Manastir Prayer Rug ( Monastir, Balkan) 120/72 cm,hand-spun wool. Selvages new, loss of knots on borders and small holes, no restorations. The color spectrum consist of organic blue and a yellow/orange. The orange is the earliest available aniline - which dates the rug c. 1870/1890 - mixed with other agents that caused the mellowing ( bleaching ) making the border-design hardly visible. The resulting color impression is harmonious. Woven decades before the main exodus of Muslims into Asia Minor ( 1912/1920 ) the severity of design shows Christian Orthodox influences and not the embellishments, which make later Manastir rugs so charming. This rug radiates something else: the sacred.