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Literature:
Citations:
- Franses, Michael, "The Influences of
Safavid Persian Art upon an Ancient
Tribal Culture", Kirchheim, E.
Heinrich, (ed.), Orient Stars, London,
1993, p. 364, note 7b
This lot belongs to an extremely rare group of
jufti knotted carpets, of which only fragments
survive. The attribution to Khorossan is based on
specific technical features: an ivory cotton warp
on two levels, (a feature also shared by the
"Vase" carpet group), cotton wefts, the
use of jufti knotting, and intense, saturated
color.
Two other surviving fragments of the Achdjian
Khorossan Sickle-Leaf Design Carpet are known. A
section of the scepter-head design border was
published by Bernheimer Fine Arts, London, see:
Hali, Issue 61, pp. 62-63. Another substantial
fragment, most recently in the Talhouni
Collection, Jordan (see: Franses, ibid., p. 364,
7a), of the main field and inner minor border, of
similar proportions to the current lot, was sold
at Sotheby's, London, 9 October, 1991, lot 2,
see; Hali, Issue 60, p. 150. During the 1930s,
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, held
another field fragment from the George Mounsey
Loan, 49181, present whereabouts unknown.
A possibly complete carpet of the same design
was sold at the American Art Association, New
York, 30 April 1927, lot 1058. By repute, (see:
Hali, Issue 73, op. cit.), all 4 fragments were
cut from this carpet.
The lot illustrated here, uniting as it does
both border and field, is the only portion able
to show clearly the scale and rhythm of the
carpet and to give some idea of its original
magnificence.
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