Kuba rug

This colorful Kuba rug, from the Northeast Caucasus, draws a repeat field of stars within and blue and red lattice. The yellow/gold ground is quite rare. While this geometric field design repeats, it is anything but monotonous–or even regular. With an almost musical approach to spacing and composition, the diagonal theme is far from consistent, having a great degree of color variation within the stars. The oscillating blue and white outer border in the past has been referred to as the “running dog” border and it’s origin can be traced to the ancient “Greek Key” design.