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Lot Essay
Kurt Erdmann's note in the entry to the 1950 catalogue is very full on this carpet noting a number of similar examples. Those that are most immediately obvious are a near pair with virtually identical fields but different borders to the present example, one in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (Sarre, F. and Trenkwald, H.: Altorientalische Teppiche, Leipzig, 1926-28, vol.1, pl.24), the other in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Two further unpublished examples are cited which are very probably fragments from the same carpet as the present example, one in the collection of Friedrich Sarre, the other in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Another fragment of this carpet, which could be the one formerly with Sarre, is now in the David Collection, Copenhagen. Further examples of the group are noted in Istanbul, in the Türk ve Islam Museum and in the Topkapi, (the second recently published in Rogers, J.M. and Tezcan, H.: Topkapi -- Carpets, London, 1988, pl.36). Three other examples are also cited, two of which are shown in rare publications. Two further examples can be added to this list; the first a large fragmentary rug with an identical border formerly in the Bernheimer Collection (Schürmann, U.: Oriental Carpets, London, 1966, p.33), the other a complete but very worn carpet formerly in the de Trafford Collection, sold in these Rooms 3 March 1994, lot 27.
These rugs are typified by a soft fleecy pile, a palette that often relies heavily, as here, on a dark green and slightly corrosive orange-brown, and fields covered with relatively self-contained floral sprays. These floral designs have close similarities with those of some vase carpets, but the wool and structure of this group are dramatically different. As in vase carpets, medallions are rare; the de Trafford example had a small central medallion placed on top of and in no way linked in to the field design. The East Persian attribution of the group was first suggested by Sarre and Trenkwald, followed by Pope and Erdmann. While the drawing is far more curvilinear, and the wool more fleecy, and the colours more subtle than in the recently proposed Khorassan group (Franses, M. 'The Caucasus or North East Persia, A Question of Attribution' in Kirchheim, H.: Orient Stars, Stuttgart, 1993, pp.94-100), all are very similar to those of generally accepted Khorassan pieces of the 18th and 19th centuries.
These rugs are typified by a soft fleecy pile, a palette that often relies heavily, as here, on a dark green and slightly corrosive orange-brown, and fields covered with relatively self-contained floral sprays. These floral designs have close similarities with those of some vase carpets, but the wool and structure of this group are dramatically different. As in vase carpets, medallions are rare; the de Trafford example had a small central medallion placed on top of and in no way linked in to the field design. The East Persian attribution of the group was first suggested by Sarre and Trenkwald, followed by Pope and Erdmann. While the drawing is far more curvilinear, and the wool more fleecy, and the colours more subtle than in the recently proposed Khorassan group (Franses, M. 'The Caucasus or North East Persia, A Question of Attribution' in Kirchheim, H.: Orient Stars, Stuttgart, 1993, pp.94-100), all are very similar to those of generally accepted Khorassan pieces of the 18th and 19th centuries.