FEATURES ARCHIVE

Carpets Specialist Silke Braeuer reveals tastes and trends from the days of King Henry VIII to today’s interior decorator.

Since the 16th century weavers in the Islamic world have woven carpets directly for export to be used in houses in Europe and, more recently, America. King Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547) is depicted standing on carpets very similar to one in the sale (lot 50). Even in the 17th century one can see a trend whereby the European market prefers bigger bolder designs and paler colours than the native Turkish and Persian buyers. One late 19th century Turkish carpet in the sale that exemplifies these features has the intriguing inscription stitched on the back that the design is the property of Bon Marché, the well known department store in Paris (lot 158).

For the last few years the look that has been selling well has been the un-crowded pale open look (lot 180). Very recently however, we have seen an increase both in the finer Persian carpets such as an extremely fine Meshed carpet made by one of the late Shah of Iran’s favourite weavers, Saber (lot 224), and in the number of buyers who would prefer to have one strongly coloured but smaller rug to act as a focus within a room (lot 113). There are however certain classic looks that never go out of fashion, such as two remarkable Agra carpets in the sale (lots 186 and 200).

The Perfect Pattern
When sitting in front of her loom, each weaver starts with a plain rectangle within which almost any design can be created. At one other end of the weaving scale is the tribeswoman who has no cartoon, just an amazing memory for traditional patterns.

The sale is particularly rich in the weavings of the Qashqai tribe, a nomadic tribe who live in western Iran. The best examples use wool that is extraordinarily soft, also occasionally with purple silk wefts running between the rows of knots. One remarkable example even has the end panels fully woven in the piled technique, a part of the rug that was almost invariably flatwoven (lot 141).

In other contexts, in an established workshop, the weaver will have very rigid cartoon that she will work from. Perfection is the aim and the fineness of the materials, the number of knots per centimetre, the quality of the dyes employed, all have a major part to play in the appreciation of such carpets. The finest examples are where all these features come together, such as in a number of silk rugs. One of the best workshops that has always been highly collectable is that established in Koum Kapi, the "sand gate" on the southern edge of Istanbul (lot 164). Some of them are signed by the master weaver Zareh Penyamin who concealed his signature within the metal-thread details that he wove into the silk design.

The sale includes a near-pair of Koum Kapi prayer rugs by him which were last sold in Christie’s in 1985 (lots 19 and 20). The sale is particularly rich in silk rugs, a number of which come from a private collection that has been built up over the last 25 years, including a carpet woven with the design in coloured pile against a silver thread ground, giving a relief or souf effect (lot 18). Of all the Persian silk rugs however it tends to be the products of Heriz that are the most sought after. The sale has two truly extraordinary examples. One is a pictorial rug depicting an enthroned young Qajar prince (lot 125) while the other, with a wonderful finesse of weave, and a possibly unique method of plaiting silver wire into the structure, is, very unusually, signed, by Rajab (lot 76).