New York Fine Oriental and European Carpets - RESCHEDULED » lot 64
This border fragment is from a Safavid animal combat, palmette and cloudband carpet. The structure, coloring and drawing all indicate that this was of the highest quality, undoubtedly the product of a court workshop. Several comparative examples exist, the closest being the fragment sold at Sotheby's London, 16 October 1996, lot 150 (and cover detail). According to Hali, Issue 90, p. 124, that fragment is a part of a fragmentary red ground animal combat, palmette and cloudband Isphahan carpet published by Michael Franses, see: The Textile Gallery, ibid., pl. IX, pp. 20-24. A possibly complete example of this group of red ground Isphahan animal carpets with ivory ground palmette borders is in the Museum fur Angewandte Kunst , Vienna (inv.no.OR311), see: Sarre, Friedrich & Trenkwald, Hermann, Old Oriental Carpets, Vienna, 1926, 1929, Vol. 1, pl. 9. Apart from the three examples already cited here, 8 other fragments of this group are known, four of which retain no extant borders at all. One other fragment in the Textile Museum, Washington, D. C., displays both major and inner minor borders but no field area; see: Ellis, Charles Grant, "Some Compartment Designs for Carpets, and Herat", Textile Museum Journal, Vol. 1, no. 4, Washington, D. C., 1965, fig. 5. Three further fragments retain areas of both field and border; they are: a) another example in the Museum fur Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Sarre & Trenkwald op. cit., pl. 10.; b) a fragment in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, see: Kendrick, A. F., Guide to the Collection of Carpets in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1931, pl. 4; and c) a fragment in the collection of the Museo Civico, Turin, see: Ghereh, Vol. 1, no. 1, June 1993, pp. 29-41. In all the above mentioned pieces, the border has an ivory ground. Related borders are also found in several other Safavid carpets, including the superb "Darius of the Universe" carpet in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan, see: Balboni Brizza, Maria Teresa, Museo Poldi Pezzoli ~ Tappeti, Turin, 1993, no. 7, pp. 52-57. This carpet, also on a silk foundation, displays a very similar format of arabesques and cartouches but on a light blue ground and the infill motifs differ: they include animals in pursuit and splayed lions in the palmette cartouches. From the 12 closely related surviving fragments and carpets in this Isphahan animal carpet group, all with red grounds and ivory borders on a silk foundation, we can surmise that these weavings were of a substantial size and grandeur. It is probable that weavings of this scale and quality , both in conception and in materials, would have been woven under the direct auspices of the court, with particular locations in mind, either (as in the case of the Ardebil carpets) a mosque or shrine, or for the royal household itself. This fragment offers a tantalizing glimpse of a magnificent carpet and a tangible link to the master weavers of the court of Shah Abbas the Great. Picture and Information from www.Sothebys.com For Further Reading: Thanks and best wishes, J. Barry O'Connell Jr. |
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