New York Fine Oriental and European Carpets - RESCHEDULED » lot 221
Shah Abbas I the Great moved his capital from Kazvin to Isphahan in 1598 (see: lot 64 in this auction). The carpets attributed to Isphahan in this golden age of weaving generally fall into two distinct groups, one with a wool pile and usually a red ground on a cotton foundation, and the other with silk pile typically embellished with metal thread. This carpet is from another relatively small group of red ground arabesque carpets with silk warps, exceptional drawing and in most cases birds and, less often, animals. The most famous carpets from this group are the "Emperor's carpets", which were reputedly presented to Emperor Leopold I of the Hapsburgs by Peter the Great of Russia in 1698; one now in the Museum fur Angewandte Kunst, Vienna and the other in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see: Kendrick, A. F., Pope, A. U., and Thompson, W. G., The Emperor's Carpet and Two Others, London, 1927 and Dimand and Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, cat. no. 12, Fig. 76, pp. 140-1 for the Metropolitan carpet and Hali, Issue 31, 1986, p. 14 for the Vienna carpet. The field design of the present carpet most closely relates to a carpet from the Kelekian collection, illustrated as plate 1186 in Pope, A. U., A Survey of Persian Art, London and New York, 1939. According to Pope, (ibid. p. 2363) these carpets may have been woven for use in mosques, as they omit any animals or human figures, whereas the representation of birds was deemed permissible. The concept of carpets woven on a silk foundation was of great importance during the Safavid dynasty. Silk was such a precious and desirable commodity that many contemporaneous carpets were woven on cotton warps with silk fringes being tied to the warp fringes up to 5 inches into the pile, a characteristic seen even on the superlative `Emperor' carpet in Vienna (see above). Related fragments include one from the Collection of the late Robert De Calatchi, Paris, see: Sotheby's, London, 4 October 2000, lot 79; one from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, see: Erdmann, Kurt, Der Orientalische Knupfteppich, Tubingen, 1955, Abb. 79; one from the collection of Mrs. Nelson A. Rockefeller, sold in these rooms, 4 June 1988, lot 10 and another at Galerie Koller, Zurich, 28 March 2001, lot 1061. According to Hali, Issue 90 (op. cit.) "this fine and delicate silk-warped red-ground 'spiral tendril and palmette' carpet with birds has superb visual and tactile qualities." With fresh and vibrant color, voluptuous pile and remarkable drawing, this carpet is an outstanding example of the art of 16th century Safavid court weaving. Picture and Information from www.Sothebys.com For Further Reading: Thanks and best wishes, J. Barry O'Connell Jr. |
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